THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE EUROPEAN UNION'S ENERGY SECURITY CHALLENGES IN 21ST CENTURY

Özet

The oil crises made states more aware that their power was dependent on access to natural resources and raw materials to feed the economy’s industrial base. Growing demand for energy resources and scarcity of them gave rise to using of energy as a foreign policy tool. Thus energy security became one of the broader range of nontraditional security issues that emerged in the past years, it has been integrated into the debates of the international relations theories. On the other hand, after the Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis concerns on energy issues increased in the European Union and the Union’s energy security was required a review. The last developments show that in 21st century an energy security is not only a topic of the European Union’s economic agenda anymore. A serious political effort is needed in order to deal with the growing energy demand of the Union. The theoretical approach to the subject has remained a neglected part of the relevant studies. Therefore, this paper intends to explain the Union’s energy security issue within the framework of exising international relations theories.