Energy Security along the New Silk Road: Energy Law and Geopolitics in Central Asia

Guaranteeing energy security is one of the most complex challenges of energy law and policy. Energy insecurity threatens economic development, social peace and stability. This book focuses on energy security in the strategically important region of Central Asia. The region holds huge energy reserves, but its energy systems are highly inefficient and unreliable, and thus require urgent reform. However, endemic corruption, discrimination and the strong centralization of power have so far blocked initiatives to reorganize energy supply. The case of Central Asia is uniquely relevant for understanding the informal constraints on energy law and policy. In addition, Central Asian energy insecurity illustrates the impact of geopolitics on the regulation of energy markets. The region is strategically located in Russia's sphere of influence and along China's New Silk Road. Its energy situation highlights the complex interactions amongst energy law, geopolitics and institutions.

• Critically discusses legal answers to energy security in a challenging institutional environment and explains the concept of energy security and its application in context
• Introduces the theory on the reform of energy markets and institutional obstacles to its implementation and makes it accessible to readers by focusing on specific case studies
• Provides an interdisciplinary approach to energy law by connecting the geopolitics of energy with the regulation of energy markets, and shows how energy law and geopolitics can interact