The Role of Energy in Russian Foreign Policy towards Kazakhstan: Geopolitics, Economics, Law, and Technology in Central Asian Oil and Gas

Energy is a significant factor in the formation of Russian foreign policy, particularly towards Kazakhstan. This book seeks to isolate the role of energy amid a sea of other factors already attended to by mainstream literature in the Anglo-American and Russian traditions. What is missing from the contemporary literature, however, is a well-rounded and thorough scientific approach to the study of energy's role in foreign policy. To begin filling this gap, the methodology of political science is supplemented here by a multi-disciplinary approach in which significant space is allocated to other areas of study relevant to energy and its repercussions on geographical, technological, legal, and economic issues. The originality of the present work is not intended to be found in its conclusions but in the uniquely scientific methods employed in drawing them. Its fresh analytic approach will be appreciated by students and scholars who are interested in new ways of looking at energy issues.