
CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Belfer Case Study Room (S020)
Energy dependence is the leitmotif of Eurasian political economy. The concept recurs in official speeches and is often invoked to imply a threat. The higher the level of dependence on hydrocarbon imports, especially oil and natural gas, the higher the energy security risk. This stems usually from political instability in hydrocarbon-producing countries, concerns about price volatility, the fact that some state-owned oil companies are hand-in-glove with authoritarian regimes, or increased carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, which contribute to global warming. More than anywhere else, member states and associated member states of the International Energy Agency have sought to make sustainable development (including further development of domestic resources) and energy security a top priority. It is perceived as a means towards decreasing dependence. It turns out that the interests of consuming and producing countries are, however, more and more divergent, and finding common ground is challenging, although increasingly important.
Conference Organizers
Rawi Abdelal, Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management, Harvard Business School; Director, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
Aurélie Bros, Postdoctoral Fellow, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
Preliminary Program
Download the full agenda and speaker bios here.
Thursday, May 9, 2019
9:30–10 a.m. – Registration
10 a.m. – Opening Remarks
Rawi Abdelal, Director, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University; Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management, Harvard Business School
10:10–11:10 a.m. – Panel I: Rent-Seeking and the Vicious Circle of Energy Dependence
Margarita Balmaceda, Professor of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Threat and Temptation in Eurasian Energy Policies: On the Mirror of Belarus
Vitaly Yermakov, National Research University, Higher School of Economics
Russia’s Hydrocarbon Rent: Managing the Resource Curse
Moderator: Rawi Abdelal, Director, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University; Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management, Harvard Business School
11:15–11:30 a.m. – Coffee Break
11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. – Panel II: Tumultuous Energy Transition in Ukraine
Jonathan Elkind, Fellow and Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), Columbia University/SIPA
Ukraine’s Troubled Path to an Uncertain Energy Future
Johannes Baur, First Counsellor, Head of Sector for Economic Cooperation, Energy, Infrastructure and Environment, EU Delegation to Ukraine
Ukraine's Energy Sector Reforms: Energy Independency, EU Integration and Vested Interests
Moderator: Timothy Colton, Morris and Anna Feldberg Professor of Government and Russian Studies, Harvard University
12:45–1:30 p.m. – Lunch Break
1:30–2:40 p.m. – Panel III: Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan: Finding a Place in the Energy World
Morena Skalamera, Assistant Professor of Russian Studies, Leiden University
Circling the Barrels: The Case of Kazakhstan's Regime Stability in the Wake of the 2014 Oil Bust
Yunis Gubanov, Fellow, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University; Ph.D. Candidate, University of Cologne
The Energy Industry and Tendencies of Azerbaijani Energy Policy After the Breakup of the Soviet Union
Moderator: Nargis Kassenova, Senior Fellow, Program on Central Asia, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University; Associate Professor, KIMEP University, Almaty
2:45–3 p.m. – Coffee Break
3–4:30 p.m. – Panel IV: Dependence on the International Environment
David Ramin Jalilvand, CEO, Orient Matters
Iran: Managing Energy Dependence Under Sanctions
Juergen Braunstein, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Russia-Saudi Energy Alliance and Gas: Preparing for the Next Chapter?
Edward Chow, Senior Associate in the Energy and National Security Program at CSIS
China's Belt and Road Initiative and Energy Security
Moderator: Meghan O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, and Director, Geopolitics of Energy Project, Harvard Kennedy School; Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
4:30 p.m. – Concluding Remarks
Aurélie Bros, Postdoctoral Fellow, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
Friday, May 10, 2019
9:30–10:40 a.m. – Panel V: Clean Energy Transition(s) in Europe and China
Valerie Karplus, Assistant Professor of Global Economics and Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
The Role of Markets in China's Clean Energy Transition
Thierry Bros, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies; Member, EU-Russia Gas Advisory Council
A New Narrative for Gas in Europe
Moderator: Aurélie Bros, Postdoctoral Fellow, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
10:45–11:00 a.m. – Coffee Break
11:00 a.m.–12:10 p.m. – Panel VI: Decreasing Dependence for the Sake of the Environment
John Fernández, Director, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
Eurasian Urban Energy Independence and the Environment
Carlo Ratti, Professor of Urban Technologies and Planning, MIT; Director, SENSEable City Lab
Senseable Cities
Moderator: Muriel Rouyer, Adjunct Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
12:10 p.m. – Concluding Remarks
Rawi Abdelal, Director, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University; Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management, Harvard Business School
Registration
Register for the conference here.
Cosponsored by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
For more information, please call 617-495-4037.