Overview of PEEER’s first workshop at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow,
14 – 16th September 2009
PEEER Network and Moscow ’09 Workshop Objectives:
The main objectives of PEEER are to investigate the changing face of the political economy of energy in
Europe and Russia and to encourage further networking, training and collaboration between relevant
researchers, with a focus on early career researchers, in Europe and Russia. It was intended that the
PEEER network would build upon contact already initiated between Caroline Kuzemko in the Politics and
International Studies (PaIS) Department at the University of Warwick and Dr Andrei Belyi of the Politics
of World Energy Department at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow. This initial working
relationship provided a solid basis for the Moscow workshop in that both Caroline and Andrei were able
to draw on their individual networks and contact bases to put together a workshop which ultimately
brought together a group of high quality and enthusiastic participants from leading universities across
the UK, Europe and Russia. The resultant networking and research collaboration at the Moscow
workshop exposed researchers to wider perspectives on understanding energy as a complex subject
which lies on the border between many distinct, traditional disciplines.
PEEER’s initial research objectives were to work toward the development of a working paper series, with
policy relevance, which would consider topics such as differing perspectives of energy policy and
governance and how they affect energy relations, the changing role of the public and private sectors in
energy governance, the ways in which regulatory approaches (including governance, institutions and
legal practices) need to adapt to manage the transition period between reliance on fossil fuels as a
primary source of energy and emerging alternative technologies.
Outcomes of First PEEER Workshop:
PEEER provided bursaries for 11 UK based early career researchers, from varying academic disciplines
including international relations, economics, international political economy and law, to travel to
Moscow to take part in the workshop at the HSE together with early career researchers based in
Moscow and more senior researchers from the UK, Europe and Russia. By bringing this varied, both in
terms of discipline and experience, group together PEEER has set the foundations for a new, vibrant and
interdisciplinary community of energy researchers. The proceedings were opened by Professor Nodari
Simonia, a most distinguished expert in the political economy of energy, who gave a timely and
informative lecture putting Russian energy policy into the wider context of the global financial crisis.
This was followed, over the course of the two days, by six more sessions where early career researchers
from various academic disciplines had the opportunity to present to the group on their work and receive
feedback from their contemporaries and more experienced and established energy researchers. These
sessions, which initiated lively debate and discussion, covered topics such as:
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energy and politics including the securitisation and politicisation of energy in Europe and Russia
and varying perspectives on governance;
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successes and failures of, and possibilities for, international institutions for energy governance
(The Energy Charter, Kyoto, WTO; market institutions);
various aspects, bi- and multilateral, of EU-Russia energy relations and identity;
transit issues and proposed new pipeline routes from the Caspian Basin to Europe;
possibilities for LNG as an alternative energy source;
sustainable energy governance.
After much debate over the two days it emerged that there are a number of under-researched and understood areas which come under the umbrella of the political economy of energy in Europe and
Russia. These include:
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differing energy policy narratives, or energy perspectives, both within and between nations –
how and why these exist and what the consequences are;
sub-state actors, identities and institutions in Russian and European energy governance –
including transnational network linkages in energy relations, regulation and governance;
markets and related institutions (and their changing role in governance);
energy investment requirements across all energy sectors, including renewables, and how this
can be facilitated and improved;
economic and political aspects of the transition phase from fossil based to sustainable energy
economies.
Second PEEER Workshop: University of Warwick, September 2010:
One of the primary objectives of the Moscow workshop was to identify common themes for the
network’s research agenda going forward and it was decided that these themes will be based on the
under-researched topics identified here above. Identification of these themes which will underpin
PEEER’s future research agenda also puts PEEER in a position to be able to design a ‘call for papers’ for
the next workshop at Warwick in 2010. It is intended that the focus on these specified but varied
aspects of energy governance, both international and national, should give grounds for the papers
produced to demonstrate a good degree of relevance for the political economy of energy and also for
energy policy.
Another key outcome of the Moscow workshop was the setting up of a well qualified steering
committee which is made up of: Andreas Goldthau, Tatiana Romanova, Michael Keating, Kim Talus,
Andrei Belyi and Caroline Kuzemko. The first job of this committee will be to work in collaboration to
produce the call for papers, by mid-January 2010, for the Warwick workshop in consultation with
members of the network. PEEER members will be invited to present abstracts over the following
months and papers for presentation at the Warwick workshop will be chosen, by the steering
committee, on the basis of these abstracts. Bursaries to attend Warwick 2010 will also be based largely
on the successful acceptance of abstracts for papers. It is intended that the most relevant and
academically rigorous papers produced for the Warwick workshop, which will have undergone the first
round of peer review at this workshop, will be put forward for publication as part of a dedicated journal
edition and or as a book.
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