By focussing on the Italian case and on transformations in state-market relations in the natural gas sector, this article examines the post-war European politics of energy security. It argues that ...rather than fostering EU-level path-breaking measures, the war has brought back the 'partner state' in the EU energy realm. This model, which supported the structuration of East-West energy interdependence during the Cold War, envisages direct modes of state intervention and closer government-energy company cooperation at home and abroad. Although the return of the (partner) state is helping Western European consumers by reducing their dependence on Russian gas, it has negative implications. It favours intra-European competition, limits further supranational integration in the energy sector and risks undermining the EU climate goals. This latter risk can be amplified by the encounter of the partner state with right-wing populist climate-sceptic parties, while it can be mitigated by the 'greening' of the partner state.
The expansion of renewables is still dependent on appropriate policy support. Nonetheless, in the wake of the economic crisis, even pioneer European countries have begun to dismantle the set of ...measures implemented in the past decades. Policy dismantling in the area of renewable energy is a recent phenomenon that has attracted little attention in comparison to the study of the diffusion of support schemes. By focusing on the dismantling of renewable energy policy in Italy, this contribution helps fill this gap and highlights an important aspect of the current politics of energy transition. It shows how interactions between the political economy of the renewable energy sector, policy design, institutional constraints and external events affect policy dismantling. It also demonstrates the role of self-undermining mechanisms and framing effects in the dismantling of renewable energy policy.
Italy is the second largest market for Russian gas in the EU, and Italy-Russia energy relations stretch back to the Cold War period. By developing an original framework for the study of the politics ...of producer-consumer cooperation based on an international political economy approach and the analytical concept of forms of state, this article examines the origins, evolution and current features of Italy-Russia dyadic energy relations. This analysis, in turn, offers an important contribution to the study of EU-Russia relations and sheds light on the reconfiguration of East-West gas interdependence within the context of the integration and liberalisation of the EU energy sector.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
European energy security has recently emerged as an important topic of scholarly attention. Many studies have scrutinised the political and institutional innovations triggered by the establishment of ...the European Union internal energy market and external energy policy. However, the literature indicates a particularly striking gap between growing research and concept development, and only recently have efforts been made to analyse this current dynamic more accurately. By focussing on the security of gas supply and liquefied natural gas development in France, Italy and Spain, and extending the model of the catalytic state to the energy-security realm, this article contributes to the empirical and conceptual debate. In particular, the article argues that the catalytic state model, which emphasises the active role of governments in a liberalised market structure and their wide participation in a networked pattern of energy diplomacy, is better equipped than the regulatory state model to capture the new European politics of energy security.
By focusing on the natural gas sector and infrastructural policy in the Visegrad countries this article aims to reassess the EU's role in energy security governance. It argues that the EU can be ...conceptualised as a catalytic state rather than a regulatory state. It develops the notion of Catalytic Power Europe to highlight the specific type of power that the EU (as a catalytic state) can deploy to achieve its objectives. Catalytic Power Europe differs from existing conceptions of Regulatory and Market Power Europe. It relies on nodality and treasury rather than authority and on mechanism of connectivity and mobilisation rather than enforcement. It highlights the role of the European Commission as a facilitator and coalition builder rather than a regulator and market builder as in the regulatory state perspective. This role is illustrated by analysing the major gas interconnector projects and liquefied natural gas importing terminal that are under development in the V4 and that can affect their energy security. Catalytic Power Europe influences the V4 inter-group dynamics reducing the scope for uncoordinated and unilateral strategies. In this way, it also affects the prospect of EU-Russia energy relations undermining Moscow's divide et impera strategies in the region.
•The EU is conceptualised as a Regulatory state in energy security governance.•The Catalytic state model and the notion of Catalytic Power Europe challenge this view.•We apply the Catalytic state model to gas infrastructural policy in the V4.•We reassess the role of the European Commission in the V4 energy security governance.•Catalytic Power Europe influences V4 inter-group dynamics and EU-Russia relations.
The global influence of the European Union (EU) has been debated in overlapping strands of literature as ‘normative’, ‘regulatory’ and ‘market power’. They identify the diffusion of its rules and ...standards as a vehicle of European power. We argue that European power extends beyond its regulatory capacities and includes new ‘catalytic’ capacities in the realm of financing and network building. We analyse blended finance as an instrument of ‘catalytic power’, defined as the mobilisation of partners and their resources to pursue external objectives. The analysis reveals that financial leverage, the original motivation behind the tool's creation, has declined in importance. Instead, blended finance is designed to facilitate and structure cooperation with other European and multilateral financial institutions, positioning the European Commission as a central node in international cooperation and increasing its influence in this sphere. The article closes with a discussion of blended finance as a tool of catalytic power and related trade‐offs.
The regulatory state model has traditionally been used to analyse the process of integrating the European energy sector, including the sensitive area of security of gas supply. This article argues ...that, due to recent innovations, this conceptualisation has become increasingly problematic and cannot provide an accurate picture of the current governance and politics of European energy security. This article applies the catalytic state model to the EU and contrasts it with the regulatory state approach. The catalytic state describes a peculiar pattern of governance which combines—rather than resolves—the tensions between market-centred and state-centred approaches and supranational and national views on EU energy security. This article also illustrates how this stylised form of state can be used to better frame the guiding principles, strategies and tools that are currently emerging as EU institutions address the issue of security of gas supply.
The regulatory state has provided a useful framework for conceptualizing the nature of the EU and its role in policy making. Although it is widely accepted that the conditions of European integration ...have dramatically changed since the 1990s, when this approach was formulated, few scholars have sought to theorize the EU 'beyond' the regulatory state. To fill this gap, this article puts forward the concept of the catalytic state, tracing its emergence within the field of climate and energy. The article proposes an initial theorization of the EU's role as a catalytic state, situating it between the direct approach of the positive state and the indirect one of the regulatory state. On that basis, it provides a detailed mapping of catalytic state capacities in the climate and energy sector. Rather than replacing existing regulatory capacities, the paper argues, these new capacities have expanded the scope of EU action, following the logic of policy layering. To what extent this has indeed increased the ability of the EU to achieve its declared policy targets remains an open question, however. The paper concludes with a discussion of further research questions regarding the effectiveness, accountability and scope of the EU as a catalytic state.
Awake craniotomy allows continuous monitoring of patients' neurological functions during open surgery. Anesthesiologists have to sedate patients in a way so that they are compliant throughout the ...whole surgical procedure, nevertheless maintaining adequate analgesia and anxiolysis. Currently, the use of α2-receptor agonist dexmedetomidine as the primary hypnotic-sedative medication is increasing.
Nine patients undergoing awake craniotomy were treated with refined monitored anesthesia care (MAC) protocol consisting of a combination of local anesthesia without scalp block, low-dose infusion of dexmedetomidine, propofol, and remifentanil, without the need of airways management.
The anesthetic protocol applied in our study has the advantage of decreasing the dose of each drug and thus reducing the occurrence of side effects. All patients had smooth and rapid awakenings. The brain remained relaxed during the entire procedure.
In our experience, this protocol is safe and effective during awake brain surgery. Nevertheless, prospective randomized trials are necessary to confirm the optimal anesthetic technique to be used.
This article investigates whether, how and under what conditions European Union (EU) capacity‐building programmes actually contribute to improving the action capacity of target actors in view of ...common policy objectives. The empirical analysis focuses on the European Local Energy Assistance (ELENA) technical facility that aims to enhance local authorities' project development and management capacities in the field of renewables and energy efficiency. Our findings show that favourable contextual conditions and the actual functional demand for more capacities cannot explain the implementation dynamics of this programme across EU countries. Conversely, the availability of basic starting resources or the ability to draw from EU funds emerge as key factors behind these dynamics. Evidence is provided demonstrating that the effectiveness of such programmes can be hampered by a persistent capacity trap if barriers to their implementation are not carefully considered in advance.
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