Energy Policies and Bargaining Power: the Role of Gas in the EU - Russian International Relations

ENERGY POLICIES AND BARGAINING POWER: THE ROLE OF GAS IN THE EU – RUSSIAN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. Leandro Medeot* Ecological and not very expensive, gas is the source of energy to which the European Union countries will switch in the next years in order to feed their industrial productions. This means that the European Union, through its energy agenda, will be firmly tied to Russia, its main supplier of this primary good. Finding out the effects produced by the trade of gas on their relative bargaining power on unrelated political issues is the aim of this dissertation. A model that explains this relation is developed, evidencing what are the leverages on which the respective governments can rely to augment its own bargaining power. This gives the occasion to analyse what are the sources of power of Nations, according to the most recent theories and to investigate on the concepts of dependency and bargaining, of which the structural components are evidenced. Beside theories, empirical evidence and data are also offered to the reader, who will able to have a wide outlook on the subject. The final findings evidence that a mechanism to transfer power from trade to the political arena exists and it is used both by the European Union and Russia to fulfil the expectations of their citizens and therefore to maintain their legitimacy to govern. *Leandro Medeot is a postgraduate alumni from the European Institute of the London School of Economics and Political Science.