Book Review: Europe: Experimentalist Governance in the European Union
| Author | Katrina Kelly |
| Published date | 01 May 2013 |
| Date | 01 May 2013 |
| DOI | 10.1111/1478-9302.12016_115 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
EU Energy Security in the Gas Sector: Evolving
Dynamics, Policy Dilemmas and Prospects by
Filippos Proedrou. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012. 171pp.,
£55.00, ISBN 978 1 4094 3804 5
This book provides a welcome addition to the litera-
ture on energy security. Filippos Proedrou focuses on
importing nations’ (EU) energy security in the natural
gas sector. Nevertheless, this book also explains how
energy exporters’ perspectives influence the EU’s
energy policy.The EU–Russia energy relations receive
special attention throughout the book. Additionally,
Proedrou briefly describes the EU’s energy partner-
ships with Norway, Algeria, the Middle East and the
Caspian states. The book is divided into seven chap-
ters: chapter 2 discusses the main trends in global
energy markets, chapters 3 and 4 focus on the EU’s
energy policy dilemmas while chapters 5 and 6 look
at relations with external energy suppliers. The con-
cluding chapter summarises the main findings and
suggests different scenarios for future EU energy
policy developments.
The book provides a useful starting point for
scholars and students interested in European energy
security. Proedrou’s work draws on an extensive body
of literature and succeeds in mapping the debate on
the European energy strategy. He points out that
there is a clash between the internal and external
dimensions of EU energy security. Internally, the EU
prioritises the liberalisation and integration of the
energy market. However, the external energy suppliers
are worried about the potential negative influence of
the EU’s liberalisation project on their energy secu-
rity, and are developing strategies for demand diver-
sification. Proedrou also underlines the lack of
solidarity among EU member states. He argues that
the EU institutions (instead of national governments)
should have more power in dealing with energy chal-
lenges. Furthermore, he recommends enforcing inter-
dependence with the external suppliers and cautious
diversification policies. This argument is illustrated
with an example of successful cooperation between
Russia and a number of EU member states (e.g.
Germany and Italy).
Given that many of the issues raised in this book are
not new, the most interesting contribution of
Proedrou’s work involves placing the EU’s energy
security into a global context and its comparison with
the strategies of the other major energy importers. The
author argues that the growing energy demand from
the developing world poses an additional challenge to
the EU’s energy security, because ‘the EU in general
does not promote energy projects with the same deter-
minism and effectiveness that the US and China does’
(p.43). The book’s main conclusion is that the EU may
face a significant supply deficit unless it reconsiders its
energy policy. Overall, the book is well written and
offers a good summary of the EU’s energy policy
dilemmas.
Olga Khrushcheva
(Nottingham Trent University)
Experimentalist Governance in the European
Union by Charles F. Sabel and Jonathan Zeithin
(eds). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. 368pp.,
£55.00, ISBN 978 0 19 957249 6
The central thesis of this book is that the European
Union’s regulatory successes within and surrounding its
borders are due to a recursive process of framework
rule making and revision by both European-level and
national-level actors. Labelling this as ‘experimentalist
governance’ the book’s main claim is that the EU has
moved into a new form of governing, constantly
changing and adapting to the needs of governance as
judged by the most adequate accessors in every aspect
of the policy field.
The book begins by investigating the effects of
enlargement on the European Union. Looking at
expansion, globalisation and demographic change, the
authors investigate the EU’s attempts to create a single
market by constructing a strong framework for govern-
ance in the member states through various health and
safety issues. The author s attribute the regulatory
success of the EU to the strength of the policy delib-
erators (civil servants, scientific experts and interest
group representations) into strong epistemic communi-
ties that regularly factor their presence into the Euro-
pean Union’s policy operations.
Following an initial general assessment, the book
investigates four different areas of policy to serve as a
case study analysis of how governance has been
involved in issues relatingto pr ivacy,financial, industrial
and energy regulations. Finishing with a general over-
view of the various institutional changes that occurred
298 EUROPE
© 2013 TheAuthors. Political Studies Review © 2013 Political Studies Association
Political Studies Review: 2013, 11(2)
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