This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Towards a common understanding of energy security? An analysis of elite discourses in the UK, Poland and Germany Wisniewski, Jaroslaw Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to: Share: to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. 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AN ANALYSIS OF ELITE DISCOURSES IN THE UK, POLAND AND GERMANY Jarosław Wiśniewski Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in European Studies, King’s College London, September 2013 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement 1 To my parents 2 Abstract During the first decade of the 21st century energy security has re-emerged as an issue of concern on the international agenda, attracting a wide range of analysis and increased attention in scholarly debates. This thesis seeks to contribute to the existing literature with its focus on the formulation of understandings of energy security on the level of national elite discourses of European Union (EU) Member States. This thesis analyses elite discourses on energy in three EU countries: Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom. It looks at energy as an increasingly salient theme of newspaper coverage for the period of 2000-2009. It addresses two research questions. Firstly is energy supply seen as highly threatened to an extent that extraordinary measures are necessary? Secondly, it assesses whether and to what extent discourses converge across the three selected countries. The overall aim of this thesis is to discuss whether a common understanding of energy security is emerging across EU Member States’ elite discourses. The thesis identifies politicisation, not securitisation, as having the biggest influence on national public discourses. It demonstrates signs of convergence between all three national discourses, showing its occurrence in terms of defining problems and to a lesser degree in terms of preferred solutions. The thesis identifies year 2006 as a particularly pivotal learning experience which triggered an increased scepticism towards Russia. It also shows that this scepticism was directed towards a personified villain, Vladimir Putin. These shifts were visible in other key events identified in the thesis, primarily in August 2008 (conflict in Georgia) and January 2009 (second gas spat between Kyiv and Moscow). There are instances suggesting that the perceptions of these problems are gradually (albeit slowly) translated into a common European challenge. A more unified EU foreign policy vis-à-vis Russia in the energy field however seems unlikely. The differences between discourses concerned various national factors causing energy insecurity in all three countries. Visible differences were also seen in terms of perceptions of the European Union. Ideas for pan-European solutions emerged only following salient crisis events, shifting perceptions but then returning to business as usual. Although all countries tend to increasingly perceive Russian energy policies as a common European problem, the thesis is pessimistic about the perspectives of common European solutions. 3 Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 6 List of Figures and Tables .............................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 1 – Introduction .............................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2 .................................................................................................................................... 34 2.1 Discourse analysis ............................................................................................................. 35 2.1.1 Discourse vis-à-vis narrative ...................................................................................... 35 2.1.2 Discourse analysis and Europeanisation .................................................................... 38 2.1.3 The role of newspapers in the Europeanisation of public discourse ......................... 42 2.1.4 Discourse and change; discourse and convergence .................................................. 52 2.2 Energy security .................................................................................................................. 57 2.2.1 Understanding energy policy ..................................................................................... 57 2.2.2 Understanding energy security .................................................................................. 58 2.2.3 Where is security in energy security? ........................................................................ 62 2.3 Indicators .......................................................................................................................... 70 2.3.1 The importance of events .......................................................................................... 70 2.3.2 Security language ....................................................................................................... 71 2.3.3 Frames ....................................................................................................................... 73 2.3.4 Tone of coverage of Russia and threat perceptions of the Kremlins’ policies in the energy discourse ................................................................................................................. 75 2.3.5 Benefits and disadvantages from cooperation with the EU in the energy sphere .... 78 2.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 86 Chapter 3 - Operationalisation of the research – data and research design .............................. 88 3.1 Research design ................................................................................................................ 88 3.2 Time frame ........................................................................................................................ 93 3.3 Data collection .................................................................................................................. 93 3.4 Answering the research questions .................................................................................... 96 3.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 100 Chapter 4 – United Kingdom .................................................................................................... 101 4.1 The Energy policy in the United Kingdom ....................................................................... 102 4.2 Analysed newspapers ..................................................................................................... 106 4.3 Is energy supply seen as highly threatened to an extent that extraordinary measures are necessary? ............................................................................................................................ 107 4.4 Indicators of convergence .............................................................................................. 116 4.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 130 Chapter 5 – Poland ................................................................................................................... 135 4 5.1 Energy policy in Poland ................................................................................................... 136 5.2 Analysed Newspapers ..................................................................................................... 140 5.3 Is energy supply seen as highly threatened to an extent that extraordinary measures are necessary? ............................................................................................................................ 141 5.4 Indicators of convergence .............................................................................................