Li-Chen Sim | Khalifa University (original) (raw)

Papers by Li-Chen Sim

Research paper thumbnail of Renewable Energy Diplomacy: The Gulf States in the Caucasus and Central Asia

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Research paper thumbnail of The Arab Gulf states in the Asian energy market: is the Russia-Ukraine war a game changer?

Policy Studies, 2024

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Research paper thumbnail of Introduction to the Policymaking Process

The transformation of the oil industry is one of the most significant changes that have occurred ... more The transformation of the oil industry is one of the most significant changes that have occurred as part of the transition to a market-based economy in post-Soviet Russia. At the beginning of 1992, there were 300 fully state-owned oil entities ranging from the LUKoi1 business kontsern, production associations, enterprises involved in exploration, refining and distribution as well as research centres.1 Within a decade, six privately owned oil companies emerged to dominate the Russian oil industry, namely, LUKoil, YUKOS, Surgutneftegaz, Sibneft’, Tyumen’ Oil (TNK) and Slavneft’. They have been ranked among the 50 largest oil companies in the world, and at the end of 2003, they collectively accounted for just over 75% of Russia’s total oil output, 70–80% of oil exports and 60% of the country’s proven oil reserves. Comparatively, the remaining three state-owned oil majors — Rosneft’, Tatneft’ and Bashneft’ — accounted for only 8% of Russia’s annual oil production and 15% of reserves in 2003.2 With the sale of Yuganskneftegaz, a key oil production subsidiary of YUKOS, and that of Sibneft’ in December 2004 and September 2005, respectively, the share of oil produced by state-owned companies has since risen to one-third of Russia’s total production today. Nevertheless — and this is an often overlooked point — two-thirds of Russian oil production remains in the hands of privately owned oil companies.3

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Research paper thumbnail of In search of security: Azerbaijan and the role of oil in the Caspian Sea

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Sep 1, 1999

Russia's neo‐imperial activism in the former Soviet republics is often singled out a... more Russia's neo‐imperial activism in the former Soviet republics is often singled out as the reason for these countries' continued political, economic and social instability. More likely, as illustrated by the case of Azerbaijan, the origins of a 'weak state'lie in its internal ...

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Research paper thumbnail of Renewable energy diplomacy: The Gulf States in the Caucasus & Central Asia (pp237-262)

In Katherine Wolff and Karen Young eds., Energy Transitions in the Middle East, IB Tauris, 2024.

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Research paper thumbnail of The Gulf states and the energy transition in the Indo Pacific word

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Research paper thumbnail of Renewable Energy and Governance Resilience in the Gulf

Energies

The six Gulf monarchies—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE... more The six Gulf monarchies—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE)—are more politically stable than their peers in the Middle East and North Africa. Explanations for governance resilience range from repression to neopatrimonial and instrumental legitimacy, hydrocarbon-based rentierism, and permissive regional and international environments. This paper considers, in view of the proliferation and uptake of renewable energy in the Gulf, how governance resilience may be affected as a result of changes in state-society relations during the energy transition away from a fossil-fuel-based energy system. It offers a qualitative analysis of the impact of renewable energy deployment in the Gulf, supported by a rich array of secondary literature and data. It also offers a deep, if brief, dive to highlight intra-regional nuances. The authors conclude that in the short term, renewable energy deployment has a very modest impact given its limited share of power gene...

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Research paper thumbnail of The Strategic Culture in Singapore

Routledge eBooks, Nov 16, 2022

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Research paper thumbnail of Statecraft in the Steppes: Central Asia’s Relations with China

Journal of Contemporary China

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Research paper thumbnail of Asian Perceptions of Gulf Security

Routledge eBooks, Nov 16, 2022

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Research paper thumbnail of The changing relationship between the State and the oil industry in Russia (1992-2004)

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

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Research paper thumbnail of Singapore’s relations with the Gulf: from defensive to positive engagement

Asian Security

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Research paper thumbnail of Global Energy Markets and the Persian Gulf

Routledge Handbook Of Persian Gulf Politics, 2020

This chapter examines how changes in the global energy system will impact states in the Persian G... more This chapter examines how changes in the global energy system will impact states in the Persian Gulf. The latter's response strategies are analyzed along with their political implications on domestic and international audiences.

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Research paper thumbnail of Powering the Middle East and North Africa with Nuclear Energy: Stakeholders and Technopolitics

International Political Economy Series, 2021

This chapter uses the multi-level perspective framework to analyse the extent to which a niche te... more This chapter uses the multi-level perspective framework to analyse the extent to which a niche technology in MENA, such as nuclear power, can be mainstreamed into the domestic power mix. Through this approach, the interplay between domestic stakeholders, regional influences, and international context are considered alongside the attributes of nuclear energy technology. Consequently, this chapter offers an in-depth study of nuclear power in Abu Dhabi enriched by comparative assessments of experiences in other MENA countries. In particular, it argues that the initial decision to ‘go nuclear’ is merely the first step. It is the ability to craft and sustain enabling coalitions of stakeholders (domestic and foreign) in favour of nuclear power, as Abu Dhabi has done, that explains much of the variation within MENA countries concerning the successful uptake of nuclear power.

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Research paper thumbnail of Quo vadis? External powers in a changing Gulf region

External Powers and the Gulf Monarchies, 2018

This introduction sets the theoretical framework for explaining and understanding the changing dy... more This introduction sets the theoretical framework for explaining and understanding the changing dynamic between the external powers and the Arab Gulf monarchies. It begins with an historical overview of the Gulf monarchies’ long relationships with extra-regional actors, focusing on their bilateral alliances with the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The analysis in this section emphasizes the use of realist approaches to international politics - such as the balance of power and balance of threat strategies – to both material and ideational challenges to the Gulf monarchies. The chapter then proceeds to highlight the roles played by relative newcomers to the Gulf at the dawn of the 21st century. France, China, and South Korea have made good use of their financial, economic, technological, and cultural statecraft. Finally, in the face of a more assertive foreign policy orientation on the part of the Arab Gulf monarchies in the wake of post-Arab Spring instability throughout the Middle East, the chapter considers whether this regional alliance model will once again give way to bilateral alliances. What opportunities for a larger regional role exist for powers that have traditionally not perceived the Gulf as within their sphere of interests? It then discusses how the contributions to this book address this changing dynamic, and analyzes the central themes discussed in this volume.

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Research paper thumbnail of Low Carbon Energy in the Middle East and North Africa: Panacea or Placebo?

International Political Economy Series, 2021

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Research paper thumbnail of Economic diversification in Russia : Nuclear to the rescue?

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Research paper thumbnail of External Powers and the Gulf Monarchies

External Powers and the Gulf Monarchies, 2018

The Gulf monarchies have been generally perceived as status quo actors reliant on the USA for the... more The Gulf monarchies have been generally perceived as status quo actors reliant on the USA for their security, but in response to regional events, particularly the Arab Spring of 2011, they are pursuing more activist foreign policies, which has allowed other international powers to play a larger role in regional affairs. This book analyses the changing dynamic in this region, with expert contributors providing original empirical case studies that examine the relations between the Gulf monarchies and extra-regional powers, including the USA, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, France, and the United Kingdom. At the theoretical level, these case studies explore the extent to which different international relations and international political economy theories explain change in these relationships as the regional, political and security environment shifts. Focusing on how and why external powers approach their relationships with the Gulf monarchies, contributors ask what motivates external powers to pursue deeper involvement in an unstable region that has seen three major conflicts in the past 40 years. Addressing an under-analysed, yet important topic, the volume will appeal to scholars in the fields of international relations and international political economy as well as area specialists on the Gulf and those working on the foreign policy issues of the extra-regional powers studied.

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Research paper thumbnail of Re-branding Abu Dhabi: From oil giant to energy titan

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 2012

Abstract This article presents a case study of Abu Dhabi's &... more Abstract This article presents a case study of Abu Dhabi's 'energy re-branding'since 2005 when it declared its intention to transform itself from an oil exporter to a total energy giant that also embraces alternative (renewable and nuclear) energy. The first part of the article ...

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Research paper thumbnail of External powers and the UAE

Facets of Security in the United Arab Emirates, 2022

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Research paper thumbnail of Renewable Energy Diplomacy: The Gulf States in the Caucasus and Central Asia

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Research paper thumbnail of The Arab Gulf states in the Asian energy market: is the Russia-Ukraine war a game changer?

Policy Studies, 2024

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Research paper thumbnail of Introduction to the Policymaking Process

The transformation of the oil industry is one of the most significant changes that have occurred ... more The transformation of the oil industry is one of the most significant changes that have occurred as part of the transition to a market-based economy in post-Soviet Russia. At the beginning of 1992, there were 300 fully state-owned oil entities ranging from the LUKoi1 business kontsern, production associations, enterprises involved in exploration, refining and distribution as well as research centres.1 Within a decade, six privately owned oil companies emerged to dominate the Russian oil industry, namely, LUKoil, YUKOS, Surgutneftegaz, Sibneft’, Tyumen’ Oil (TNK) and Slavneft’. They have been ranked among the 50 largest oil companies in the world, and at the end of 2003, they collectively accounted for just over 75% of Russia’s total oil output, 70–80% of oil exports and 60% of the country’s proven oil reserves. Comparatively, the remaining three state-owned oil majors — Rosneft’, Tatneft’ and Bashneft’ — accounted for only 8% of Russia’s annual oil production and 15% of reserves in 2003.2 With the sale of Yuganskneftegaz, a key oil production subsidiary of YUKOS, and that of Sibneft’ in December 2004 and September 2005, respectively, the share of oil produced by state-owned companies has since risen to one-third of Russia’s total production today. Nevertheless — and this is an often overlooked point — two-thirds of Russian oil production remains in the hands of privately owned oil companies.3

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Research paper thumbnail of In search of security: Azerbaijan and the role of oil in the Caspian Sea

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Sep 1, 1999

Russia's neo‐imperial activism in the former Soviet republics is often singled out a... more Russia's neo‐imperial activism in the former Soviet republics is often singled out as the reason for these countries' continued political, economic and social instability. More likely, as illustrated by the case of Azerbaijan, the origins of a 'weak state'lie in its internal ...

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Research paper thumbnail of Renewable energy diplomacy: The Gulf States in the Caucasus & Central Asia (pp237-262)

In Katherine Wolff and Karen Young eds., Energy Transitions in the Middle East, IB Tauris, 2024.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of The Gulf states and the energy transition in the Indo Pacific word

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Renewable Energy and Governance Resilience in the Gulf

Energies

The six Gulf monarchies—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE... more The six Gulf monarchies—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE)—are more politically stable than their peers in the Middle East and North Africa. Explanations for governance resilience range from repression to neopatrimonial and instrumental legitimacy, hydrocarbon-based rentierism, and permissive regional and international environments. This paper considers, in view of the proliferation and uptake of renewable energy in the Gulf, how governance resilience may be affected as a result of changes in state-society relations during the energy transition away from a fossil-fuel-based energy system. It offers a qualitative analysis of the impact of renewable energy deployment in the Gulf, supported by a rich array of secondary literature and data. It also offers a deep, if brief, dive to highlight intra-regional nuances. The authors conclude that in the short term, renewable energy deployment has a very modest impact given its limited share of power gene...

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Research paper thumbnail of The Strategic Culture in Singapore

Routledge eBooks, Nov 16, 2022

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Research paper thumbnail of Statecraft in the Steppes: Central Asia’s Relations with China

Journal of Contemporary China

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Research paper thumbnail of Asian Perceptions of Gulf Security

Routledge eBooks, Nov 16, 2022

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of The changing relationship between the State and the oil industry in Russia (1992-2004)

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Singapore’s relations with the Gulf: from defensive to positive engagement

Asian Security

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Global Energy Markets and the Persian Gulf

Routledge Handbook Of Persian Gulf Politics, 2020

This chapter examines how changes in the global energy system will impact states in the Persian G... more This chapter examines how changes in the global energy system will impact states in the Persian Gulf. The latter's response strategies are analyzed along with their political implications on domestic and international audiences.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Powering the Middle East and North Africa with Nuclear Energy: Stakeholders and Technopolitics

International Political Economy Series, 2021

This chapter uses the multi-level perspective framework to analyse the extent to which a niche te... more This chapter uses the multi-level perspective framework to analyse the extent to which a niche technology in MENA, such as nuclear power, can be mainstreamed into the domestic power mix. Through this approach, the interplay between domestic stakeholders, regional influences, and international context are considered alongside the attributes of nuclear energy technology. Consequently, this chapter offers an in-depth study of nuclear power in Abu Dhabi enriched by comparative assessments of experiences in other MENA countries. In particular, it argues that the initial decision to ‘go nuclear’ is merely the first step. It is the ability to craft and sustain enabling coalitions of stakeholders (domestic and foreign) in favour of nuclear power, as Abu Dhabi has done, that explains much of the variation within MENA countries concerning the successful uptake of nuclear power.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Quo vadis? External powers in a changing Gulf region

External Powers and the Gulf Monarchies, 2018

This introduction sets the theoretical framework for explaining and understanding the changing dy... more This introduction sets the theoretical framework for explaining and understanding the changing dynamic between the external powers and the Arab Gulf monarchies. It begins with an historical overview of the Gulf monarchies’ long relationships with extra-regional actors, focusing on their bilateral alliances with the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The analysis in this section emphasizes the use of realist approaches to international politics - such as the balance of power and balance of threat strategies – to both material and ideational challenges to the Gulf monarchies. The chapter then proceeds to highlight the roles played by relative newcomers to the Gulf at the dawn of the 21st century. France, China, and South Korea have made good use of their financial, economic, technological, and cultural statecraft. Finally, in the face of a more assertive foreign policy orientation on the part of the Arab Gulf monarchies in the wake of post-Arab Spring instability throughout the Middle East, the chapter considers whether this regional alliance model will once again give way to bilateral alliances. What opportunities for a larger regional role exist for powers that have traditionally not perceived the Gulf as within their sphere of interests? It then discusses how the contributions to this book address this changing dynamic, and analyzes the central themes discussed in this volume.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Low Carbon Energy in the Middle East and North Africa: Panacea or Placebo?

International Political Economy Series, 2021

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Economic diversification in Russia : Nuclear to the rescue?

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of External Powers and the Gulf Monarchies

External Powers and the Gulf Monarchies, 2018

The Gulf monarchies have been generally perceived as status quo actors reliant on the USA for the... more The Gulf monarchies have been generally perceived as status quo actors reliant on the USA for their security, but in response to regional events, particularly the Arab Spring of 2011, they are pursuing more activist foreign policies, which has allowed other international powers to play a larger role in regional affairs. This book analyses the changing dynamic in this region, with expert contributors providing original empirical case studies that examine the relations between the Gulf monarchies and extra-regional powers, including the USA, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, France, and the United Kingdom. At the theoretical level, these case studies explore the extent to which different international relations and international political economy theories explain change in these relationships as the regional, political and security environment shifts. Focusing on how and why external powers approach their relationships with the Gulf monarchies, contributors ask what motivates external powers to pursue deeper involvement in an unstable region that has seen three major conflicts in the past 40 years. Addressing an under-analysed, yet important topic, the volume will appeal to scholars in the fields of international relations and international political economy as well as area specialists on the Gulf and those working on the foreign policy issues of the extra-regional powers studied.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Re-branding Abu Dhabi: From oil giant to energy titan

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 2012

Abstract This article presents a case study of Abu Dhabi's &... more Abstract This article presents a case study of Abu Dhabi's 'energy re-branding'since 2005 when it declared its intention to transform itself from an oil exporter to a total energy giant that also embraces alternative (renewable and nuclear) energy. The first part of the article ...

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of External powers and the UAE

Facets of Security in the United Arab Emirates, 2022

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of External Powers and the Gulf Monarchies

The Gulf monarchies have been generally perceived as status quo actors reliant on the USA for the... more The Gulf monarchies have been generally perceived as status quo actors reliant on the USA for their security, but in response to regional events, particularly the Arab Spring of 2011, they are pursuing more activist foreign policies, which has allowed other international powers to play a larger role in regional affairs.

This book analyses the changing dynamic in this region, with expert contributors providing original empirical case studies that examine the relations between the Gulf monarchies and extra-regional powers, including the USA, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, France, and the United Kingdom. At the theoretical level, these case studies explore the extent to which different international relations and international political economy theories explain change in these relationships as the regional, political and security environment shifts. Focusing on how and why external powers approach their relationships with the Gulf monarchies, contributors ask what motivates external powers to pursue deeper involvement in an unstable region that has seen three major conflicts in the past 40 years.

Addressing an under-analysed, yet important topic, the volume will appeal to scholars in the fields of international relations and international political economy as well as area specialists on the Gulf and those working on the foreign policy issues of the extra-regional powers studied.

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Research paper thumbnail of External Powers and the Gulf Monarchies (book)

The chapters in the book analyze the changing dynamics of the Gulf monarchies' relations with key... more The chapters in the book analyze the changing dynamics of the Gulf monarchies' relations with key external powers. Perceived as status quo powers long reliant on the USA as security provider, the Gulf states have pursued more activist foreign policies of late. This, in turn, has created opportunities for other powers to play a larger role in the Gulf. The contributors provide original, empirical case studies of these changing relations.

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Research paper thumbnail of The Rise and Fall of Privatization in the Russian Oil Industry

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