Energy security as a research area of international security

Abstract

Energy security is the basic analytical category for this conducted study and its findings that are included in the article. This category defines the scope and the specific character of research and its relation to security studies. It is an important element of the epistemic layer of the conducted research. On the other hand, in terms of social reality and ontology, energy security is a foreign policy objective, an international value, and a dynamic process. It concerns various types of actors: from individuals to large social groups, institutions, states, nations, and international systems. Therefore, energy security policy aims to protect the state and society against numerous threats, the multitude, unpredictability, and complexity of which result from the polyarchic international system. The research objective of the study is to analyse the essence and specificity of energy security in the light of research on international security. Thus, various theoretical approaches, useful in the analysis of energy security issues, were taken into account. Their usefulness was also determined in the case of the analysis of the specificity of the contemporary energy market.         The analysis allows us to conclude that energy security issues take into account long-term development trends as well as unpredictable events related to the functioning of energy market and energy technology. Thus, unexpected, sudden phenomena resulting from the dynamics of the international environment gain in importance. The dilemma related to non-linear thinking often ignores a variety of solutions that, taken together, can cause a radical turn in the energy security concept and its evolution.