Energy Security: A critical approach towards challenges and opportunities in the Caspian-Black Sea region

The paper will focus on the competition - cooperation continuum in the energy security framework of the Caspian – Black Sea region, arguing on the dual role of oil and natural gas resources and pipeline projects to fuel conflict and at the same time to build stability, in the context of the protracted conflicts in the region. It will debate on the conceptualisation of energy security in the traditional approaches of realism and neoliberalism, while proposing a critical model of analysis that will go beyond the classical, state-centred theoretical streams. The role of the regional patterns of interactions, dynamics and actors in approaching energy security challenges and opportunities will be brought into light. The multiplicity and diversity of factors underpinning the energy security will be emphasised, bringing together insights on the political, economic, social and technological challenges and opportunities in the field on energy in the Caspian – Black Sea region. The identity-interests-interpretation nexus can be used as a theoretical framework of understanding the processes of securitising energy and of defining patters of cooperation or competition in the area. The energy projects can serve both as prospects for fostering stability and cooperation as well as factors maintaining the status quo and contributing to the prolongation of the frozen conflicts of the region.