CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Smirnov, Ivan |
|---|---|
| Title | Visegrad 4 States and Russian Gas Dilemma: Between Politics and Commercial Interests of Energy Companies |
| Summary | The presented thesis is aimed at considering drivers that influence energy policy outcome of decreasing or sustaining the energy dependence of Visegrad 4 states on Russian natural gas supply. The theoretical part provides the overview of the factors that influence the sustaining or decreasing the energy dependence of states that import Russian gas. The empirical part of this thesis provides the analysis of the structural and organizational power of energy companies in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Poland, along with the role that governments of the foregoing countries play in gas trade with Russia. The evidence provided indicates that the Czech and Slovakian gas companies were able to significantly influence the states’ energy policies and, driven by commercial interests, to diversify the gas supply and reduce the energy dependence on Russia, although in the Slovakian case the power of companies decreased to almost zero after the main energy company was re-nationalized in 2014. The analysis of Poland and Hungary reveals the opposite trend, with governments were the key decision-makers on the energy dependence diversification and preservation, respectively, which indicates about the absence of structural power of energy companies in those two afore-mentioned states. |
| Supervisor | Inna Melnykovska |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/smirnov_ivan.pdf |
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