Does Energy Cause Ethnic War? East Mediterranean and Caspian Sea Natural Gas and Regional Conflicts

The Caspian Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean are two regions with abundant energy resources. Their gas routes to Europe intersect and actors, exporters, pipeline owners and operators, transit states and downstream customers are connected to one another in a web of political and economic interdependencies. More significantly, these regions have been plagued by deep-seated ethnic conflicts and disputes: namely, the two oldest registered in the United Nations (the Cyprus and the Arab-Israeli Conflicts), the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, the Syria War and numerous tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caspian Sea and the Balkan regions. The presentation aims at featuring what impact these energy resources have had on the respective conflicts and disputes, as well as their influence on the power game between the EU and Russia.

Respondent: Sophia Kalantzakou, Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies