Energy Beyond Borders: Understanding the Transformation of the Energy Security Policy in Uzbekistan

Abstract

Conventionally, energy security is considered to be part of national security and national interest of a sovereign state, due to its existential role for both states and societies. However, the concept and practice of the national interest, which forms the basis of national security, has become increasingly difficult to grasp, when it comes to energy security. Paradoxically, politics and policies around energy security in Uzbekistan do not seem to be exclusively shaped by the national interest as such, but seems to be responsive to the regional and global challenges. Thus, this thesis suggests to explore the relationship between national energy policies and regional energy security complex. The case of Uzbekistan is very interesting in this regard, since it had not supported regional energy projects before, whereas it has been seeking the collaboration with its neighbors in the energy sphere. In other words, Uzbekistan has gone through a total denial of regional cooperation in the field of energy to initiating an interdependent regional approach to energy security. Why has this shift happened? And what implications it may have for the national interest of Uzbekistan, as well as the for broader understanding of the concept of “national interest” in International Relations is at the focus of this thesis. I argue that: The consistent energy blackouts has been a triggering point to make Uzbekistan shift to take the regional approach in the energy security. This argument unfolds in three steps: Firstly, I draw a conceptual framework, inspired by Barry Buzan and Ole Waever on “regional security complex” to highlight how a heavily national matter can become a regional issue. Secondly, I explore the empirical data—collected during my fieldwork between 2022-2023 — seeking to map the role of the national interest, geopolitics, and globalization in the process of shaping energy security policy. Thirdly, I explore whether Buzan’s ideas on “regional security complex” explain the shift in the case of Uzbekistan. I hypothesize that that this approach would be missing the interplay between the national and the regional agenda, as well as fail to identify the degree of each in that process. Methodologically, this thesis relies on my fieldwork, in which I conducted semi- structured interviews, participant observations, and archival research in the public offices responsible for energy policy of Uzbekistan. I triangulated this data through

discourse analysis on energy security in Uzbekistan, as well as expert and elite interviews. Conceptually, this thesis contributes to the debate on the changing nature of the national interest amidst the interplay of geopolitics and globalization in today’s International Relations.