This book explores discourses of energy security by examining European energy policies and politics.

During the first decade of the 21st Century energy security has re-emerged as an issue of concern on the international stage, attracting a wide range of analysis and increased attention in scholarly debates. But what does it actually mean? Is there one uniform understanding of the concept, or is it like an umbrella, covering a wide range of concepts belonging to the same category? This book seeks to explore the issue by looking at discourses - not at what is done, but at what is said. The work utilises three case studies: Germany, being firmly at the core of the European Union, Poland, one of its new members, and the United Kingdom, a country on its way out of the EU. All three countries have very distinct energy sectors and very specific understandings of energy security. Overall, this book addresses two main questions: it looks at the presence of security in national energy discourses and it investigates whether perceptions of key actors, such as the EU and Russia, were converging. Russia is a key actor because of its importance as a supplier of energy resources (gas, oil) to the EU. Investigation of these two questions contribute to our understanding of how energy security is addressed by EU member states and to what extent (and in which contexts) cooperation (and a common EU energy security) may be possible or acceptable.

This book will of great interest to students of energy security, European energy policies and security, European politics and security studies.