Towards a Political Ecology of Oil in Post-communist Georgia: the conflict over the Kulevi Oil Port Development (original) (raw)
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Since 1998 the growing importance of the Caspian Sea's oil reserves for the international markets has put a new pressure on Georgia's energy transit capacities. One of the new transit facilities – the Kulevi Oil Terminal located on the country's ecologically-sensitive central Black Sea coast - has emerged as a controversial development evoking several cross-cutting environmental policy, economic and political conflicts at the international, national, and local levels. This paper explores and tracks the nature of this multi-level environmental conflict over land-use and reveals it to be a complex product of the interplay between social, political and economic power. From a political ecological perspective it is possible to interpret the controversy over Kulevi as a 'regional' conflict of interests between different land managers. Our analysis discloses the links between these conflicts and their triggers at different spatial scales with a view to articulating an emerging political ecology of oil for Georgia and the Caucasus. The paper reflects on how the threat of economic loss has forced environmentally unfriendly decisions in the region, causing internal problems and a derogation of the reputation of Georgia at the international arena. Several suggestions for resolution are offered, but their success depends on the contribution of the main players in the conflicts and their commitment to fulfill their obligations. Depuis 1998, l'importance croissante des réserves de pétrole dans la mer Caspienne pour les marchés internationaux a mis une nouvelle pression sur la capacité de transit de l'énergie en Géorgie. Une des nouvelles installations de transit - le Kulevi Oil Terminal, situé sur la zone centrale de la côte de la Mer Noire, une zone écologiquement sensible - est un développement controversé, qui fait référence à des politiques environnementales complexes, et à des conflits économiques et politiques aux niveaux international, national et local. La présente étude se penche sur ces conflits environnementaux portant sur l'utilisation des terres, et révèle que ces conflits résultent de l'interaction complexe entre pouvoirs sociaux, politiques et économique. Du point de vue de l’écologie politique, il est possible d'interpréter la controverse de Kulevi comme un conflit "régional" entre les intérêts des différents utilisateurs de la terre. Notre analyse révèle les liens entre ces conflits d’intérêts et leurs déclencheurs à différentes échelles spatiales, afin de définir une nouvelle politique écologique du pétrole pour la Géorgie et le Caucase. L'article met en évidence la manière dont la menace de la perte économique a forcé la prise de décisions non écologiques dans la région, causant des problèmes internes ainsi qu’une dégradation de la réputation de la Géorgie dans l'arène internationale. Plusieurs suggestions pour la résolution de ces conflits sont faites, mais leur succès dépend de la contribution des principaux acteurs des conflits et de leur engagement à remplir leurs obligations.
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Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the discovery of gas and oil in Central Asia and Caucasia, it faced complex interests in the international political economy. These problems were mainly rooted in developing plans of the countries for increasing their influence in the area and also in Russia's connections with the Iranian and Turkish governments in the region. This paper investigates the Caspian Sea oil resources and the related systems of oil transmission through a descriptive-analytical method. Moreover, it studies the role of these factors in regional interactions of the Caspian coastal states. Finally, it analyzes the environmental geopolitics of the Caspian Sea, in association with the oil pollutants and the policies of Islamic Republic of Iran. The results revealed that the new routes of oil transmission and interactional active role of all costal states in environment conservation may have a key role in the regional constructive interactions among the Caspian...
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As the Russian Far East (RFE) enters the 21 Century it is beset by complex cross-cutting dynamics ranging from demographic issues (at two-thirds the size of the U.S., the RFE has a declining population of only six and one-half million), to its subordinate relationship with the Russian federal center in Moscow, to neoliberal economic globalization (signified in this paper by international corporate resource extraction in Pacific Russia), to disagreements over environmental degradation and the uncertain territorial status of indigenous peoples. The RFE residents of Primorsky and Khabarovsky Krais, and the Sakhalin Oblast, frequently complain of neglect at the hands of a Moscow- centered government intent on focusing its new-found riches in the more populated European Russia, and see themselves – particularly on Sakhalin – as the victims of exploitative policies intended to extract the region’s rich natural resources without adequate compensation to the regional economy or appropriate attention to environmental protection.
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Caspian Sea with area of 366400 square kilometers is the greatest lake of the world appeared as a result of analysis of the great Tethys Sea's remnants in the third geology period. While it has not all characteristics of a sea, it is vast and saline and has waves and connects to the open seas through Volga-Don channel; so it is called a sea. Following the former Soviet Union collapse and gas and oil discovery in Central Asia and Caucasia, it faced complex realities and interests in international political economy. These problems were mainly rooted in developed countries' arrangements for increase of their influence in the area and in Russia's traditional relations with the Islamic and Turkish governments in the region. This paper investigates the Caspian Sea oil resources and the related routs for oil transmission trough a descriptive-analytical method. Moreover, it studies the role of these factors in regional interactions of the coast line countries. Finally, it analyz...
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International Conference on Economics, Energy and Environment 2021, 2021
Turkey’s rising importance in the South Caucasus regional politics since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been subject to numerous studies in the literature. The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war in which Turkey supported Azerbaijan intensified the debates about regional integration and political rivalries in the region. In the changing geopolitical setting in the South Caucasus, where Turkey’s political weight tends to increase, Turkey’s regional environmental policies contradict its cooperation and friendly relations with the regional states, especially with Georgia and Azerbaijan. Taking a recent hydropower development project in the Kura-Araks river basin initiated by the government of Turkey as a case study, this study intends to review Turkey’s environmental policies in the region in connection with its political ties with the regional countries. Scrutinizing Turkey’s environmental policies within the broader conceptual framework of hydrohegemony, this paper finds some signs of Turkey exerting its soft power distributively by exploiting the current and historical issue-linkages and benefit-sharing options. As this paper aims to show, the intention to act like a hydrohegemon in the South Caucasus will negatively impact Turkey’s leadership position in regional cooperation and strategic partnerships with the riparians in the Kura-Araks River Basin, especially Azerbaijan and Georgia.
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This paper contributes an empirical test of key themes of the literature on natural resource conflict. Survey and interview data from an ongoing project in Azerbaijan provide insights into an unexpected lack of conflict in Azerbaijan related to the environment, resources and energy despite the predictions of resource conflict literature. We contend that questions about public perceptions about the environment and other daily concerns are critical if we are to understand who is likely (or unlikely) to be involved in conflict and why. The data presented in this paper demonstrate that Azerbaijani citizens rank environmental and resource issues among their immediate concerns and their top concerns for the country. However, compared to other day-to-day concerns such as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and economic concerns, environmentrelated concerns do not appear to be sufficient to motivate widespread violent conflict or citizen dissent related to environmental or natural resource conditions.
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International journal of applied research, 2017
The 21st century is marked by a rapid economic development and an inequitable allocation of hydrocarbons worldwide. As food is necessary for the survival of human being, similarly energy is required for an economy to survive in this globalized and integrated world economic system. What is going to dominate the world politics in near future and, in fact, is being somewhat influenced by the energy transportation and their acute and amplified energy dependency. Competition to gain access to the Caspian energy and rivalry about transportation routes has to be viewed within this context. The paper seeks to explore the nuances of energy geopolitics in the regional context and its wider general implications.