The Sino-Russian Gas Security Society: Power, Institutions and Change in the Emerging Natural Gas Interdependence

The doctoral dissertation develops a theoretical framework mixing IR theory, IPE theory of structures in global economy, and energy security literature in order to analytically discern the degree of integration of the emerging Sino-Russian gas interdependence. My research aims at investigating the strategic significance of the energy cooperation for the bilateral relations and how power dynamics are exercised among state and market actors, amid also the growing operationalisation of the global energy transition and international climate change policies. At the same time, by digging into the so-called deep institutional structure of both countries’ energy sectors, the dissertation analyses the vested interests of the different energy actors which define Beijing and Moscow energy policies and strategies, including their energy companies, while facing domestic and external challenges (i.e. technology, economy, institutional and regulatory, geopolitics). Furthermore, my dissertation delves with how both China and Russia have been using energy, in particular natural gas, as a multifaceted instrument in their foreign policy, both to foster cooperation and competition in the respective spheres of influence.