Andreas Goldthau
Biographic Data
| ID | 1488800 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Andreas Goldthau |
| GIVEN NAMES | Andreas |
| FAMILY NAME | Goldthau |
| SIGNATURE | GOLDTHAU A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Erfurt |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9814-6152 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 266 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
The nexus of geopolitics, decarbonization, and food security gives rise to distinct challenges across fertilizer supply chains
Fertilizers are essential for agricultural production and vital to global food security. Nevertheless, the production and use of fertilizers, primarily the nitrogen type, contribute substantially to global greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, fertilizer markets are closely intertwined with a changing geopolitical landscape and disruptions induced by the war in Ukraine. Despite a growing number of studies that have explored these various dimension…
Breaking the carbon lock-in
The Paris Agreement requires countries to break away from carbon lock-in, a particular challenge for traditional oil and gas producers. How can these countries overcome path-dependencies to shift from a fossil fuel heavy system to one relying on renewable energy? Malaysia epitomizes this challenge: the country is the second-largest oil producer in Southeast Asia whilst the fossil fuel energy sector takes up nearly 80 % of total greenhouse gas (GH…
A sustainability and governance index for assessing the EU’s green hydrogen import options
The European Commission’s REPowerEU plan set the target of importing 10 million tonnes of ‘green’ hydrogen into the European Union (EU) by 2030. Against this backdrop, this paper sets out to assess a central question: which countries can be identified as suitable partners for European green hydrogen imports? Using Germany as a reference case, the article develops a quantitative sustainability and governance index (SGI), assessing five dimensions …
Pathways to a sustainable electricity sector in Kenya
Which factors may enable a secure, affordable, and sustainable development of the Kenyan energy system? The present study aims to understand how the country's energy system could be structured in 2050, to unravel the main challenges, and to identify critical leverage points for policy action. To this end, we designed energy scenarios for Kenya using cross-impact balance and succession analysis, drawing extensively from expert judgments. The resul…
The EU Energy Crisis and a New Geopolitics of Climate Transition
In 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine had a profound effect on EU energy and climate policies. The EU redesigned its approach to the geopolitics of energy security as it sought alternatives to Russian supplies with accelerated urgency. It upgraded its commitments to energy transition internally and through external actions too, whilst member states balanced these with the domestic politics of a cost-of-living crisis triggered by the war. The n…
Towards participatory cross-impact balance analysis
This Perspective article presents a novel, participatory scenario development method for studying the energy transition. It shows how moving towards transdisciplinarity can inform formal scenario analysis and enhance modelling by engaging stakeholders and scientific communities to co-develop energy transition scenarios. The innovative approach combines participatory elements of morphological analysis with formal cross-impact balance analysis (CIB…
Are we at risk of an uneven low-carbon transition? Assessing evidence from a mixed-method elite study
Covid-19 and the politics of sustainable energy transitions
Imagining sustainable energy and mobility transitions
Based on an extensive synthesis of semi-structured interviews, media content analysis, and reviews, this article conducts a qualitative meta-analysis of more than 560 sources of evidence to identify 38 visions associated with seven different low-carbon innovations – automated mobility, electric vehicles, smart meters, nuclear power, shale gas, hydrogen, and the fossil fuel divestment movement – playing a key role in current deliberations about mo…
Horses for courses. The roles of IPE and Global Public Policy in global energy research
Although IPE and GPP overlap conceptionally and empirically, there is a case for keeping GPP and IPE analytically distinct. To simplify: GPP tells us why we need international regimes for energy, while IPE tells us why we only have incomplete ones. Although many scholars draw on both sets of literatures, the two approaches to the study of energy market, regulation and politics entail asking different types of questions based on distinct theories …
Saudi on the Rhine? Explaining the emergence of private governance in the global oil market
Swiss trading houses enjoy 35% of global market share in crude oil. How can we explain the importance of Swiss traders in the global oil market? This article argues that Swiss trading houses are part of the private governance arrangements that emerged in response to the wave of nationalization sweeping across the world’s prime oil producers. As the global crude supply chains deverticalized following nationalization, companies created mechanisms t…
Power, authority and security
This paper investigates contestation of authority in EU energy policy, with a focus on natural gas. It argues that the main challenge centers on the EU’s goals and means of energy security policy, not the location and scope of authority. The contested choice is between an across-the-board approach to regulation (Regulatory Power)- and a strategy that opens for the use of regulatory tools for geo-political purposes (Market Power). Competing claims…
Leviathan Awakens
This article explores the role of energy in regionalization processes, assessing the case of natural gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean (East Med). It makes three observations. First, we show that energy resources are a defining factor in shaping a region by rearranging the interactions and networks of actors involved in regionalization processes. Second, we demonstrate that such “energization” processes are not only—and not even primarily—at…
Four scenarios of the energy transition
This opinion article offers insights into the geopolitics of the ongoing global energy transition. In doing so, it draws heavily on a workshop in Berlin in late 2018, and a subsequent paper in the journal Nature . Four scenarios are presented. First, the “Big Green Deal” offers a positive story of the future, under the assumption that there will be a multilateral approach to tackling climate change. Second, “Dirty Nationalism” explores the fallou…
Energy decisions reframed as justice and ethical concerns
When making decisions about energy, consumers and policymakers typically overlook moral issues, which can have profound societal consequences. This Perspective explores how ideas from justice and ethics can provide a framework to reconsider energy problems and better inform decision-making processes.
Conceptualizing the above ground factors in shale gas
Energy Technology, Politics, and Interpretative Frames
This article explores competing interpretive frames regarding shale gas in Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania. These countries face the choice of embracing shale gas as a potential revolutionizing domestic source of energy, against the backdrop of Russia serving as the dominant gas supplier. This makes them interesting cases for studying how policy narratives and discourses coalesce around a novel technology. The findings, which are based on sixty-six…
The Power of Policy Regimes
Shale gas policies vary significantly across Europe, notably in Russia-dependent Central Eastern Europe. Most strikingly, Bulgaria banned shale gas, whereas Poland remains firmly committed to fostering it despite its drawbacks. This article uses a policy regime approach to explain the shale gas puzzle. Drawing on a large set of interviews, the piece investigates regime strength as the causal factor that explains the adoption of specific shale gas…
A Liberal Actor in a Realist World
Soft power with a hard edge
International security debates surrounding the European Union (EU) energy supply challenge commonly invoke the need for more EU hard power - e.g. getting tough on Russia or engaging directly with other exporters. This article investigates whether what might be labelled 'soft power with a hard edge' instead amounts to a consistent policy strategy for the EU. The central argument is that the EU has turned a weakness into strength, and developed a s…
The 2014 Ukraine-Russia crisis
Rethinking the governance of energy infrastructure
A liberal actor in a realist world? The Commission and the external dimension of the single market for energy
This article investigates the European Commission's external energy policy through the lens of the regulatory state. It argues that because of the nature of its institutions, policy tools and resources, the Commission remains a liberal actor even as the world leaves the benign pro-market environment of the 1990s and becomes more mercantilist – or 'realist'. The article tests seven hypotheses related to two key challenges as perceived by the Commi…
The uniqueness of the energy security, justice, and governance problem
Governing global energy
Rethinking the governance of energy infrastructure
A liberal actor in a realist world? The Commission and the external dimension of the single market for energy
This article investigates the European Commission's external energy policy through the lens of the regulatory state. It argues that because of the nature of its institutions, policy tools and resources, the Commission remains a liberal actor even as the world leaves the benign pro-market environment of the 1990s and becomes more mercantilist – or 'realist'. The article tests seven hypotheses related to two key challenges as perceived by the Commi…
Soft power with a hard edge
International security debates surrounding the European Union (EU) energy supply challenge commonly invoke the need for more EU hard power - e.g. getting tough on Russia or engaging directly with other exporters. This article investigates whether what might be labelled 'soft power with a hard edge' instead amounts to a consistent policy strategy for the EU. The central argument is that the EU has turned a weakness into strength, and developed a s…
The EU Energy Crisis and a New Geopolitics of Climate Transition
In 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine had a profound effect on EU energy and climate policies. The EU redesigned its approach to the geopolitics of energy security as it sought alternatives to Russian supplies with accelerated urgency. It upgraded its commitments to energy transition internally and through external actions too, whilst member states balanced these with the domestic politics of a cost-of-living crisis triggered by the war. The n…
Energy Technology, Politics, and Interpretative Frames
This article explores competing interpretive frames regarding shale gas in Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania. These countries face the choice of embracing shale gas as a potential revolutionizing domestic source of energy, against the backdrop of Russia serving as the dominant gas supplier. This makes them interesting cases for studying how policy narratives and discourses coalesce around a novel technology. The findings, which are based on sixty-six…
Power, authority and security
This paper investigates contestation of authority in EU energy policy, with a focus on natural gas. It argues that the main challenge centers on the EU’s goals and means of energy security policy, not the location and scope of authority. The contested choice is between an across-the-board approach to regulation (Regulatory Power)- and a strategy that opens for the use of regulatory tools for geo-political purposes (Market Power). Competing claims…
Four scenarios of the energy transition
This opinion article offers insights into the geopolitics of the ongoing global energy transition. In doing so, it draws heavily on a workshop in Berlin in late 2018, and a subsequent paper in the journal Nature . Four scenarios are presented. First, the “Big Green Deal” offers a positive story of the future, under the assumption that there will be a multilateral approach to tackling climate change. Second, “Dirty Nationalism” explores the fallou…
Are we at risk of an uneven low-carbon transition? Assessing evidence from a mixed-method elite study
Conceptualizing the above ground factors in shale gas
Leviathan Awakens
This article explores the role of energy in regionalization processes, assessing the case of natural gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean (East Med). It makes three observations. First, we show that energy resources are a defining factor in shaping a region by rearranging the interactions and networks of actors involved in regionalization processes. Second, we demonstrate that such “energization” processes are not only—and not even primarily—at…
A Public Policy Perspective on Global Energy Security
Journal Article A Public Policy Perspective on Global Energy Security Get access Andreas Goldthau Andreas Goldthau Central European University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Studies Perspectives, Volume 13, Issue 1, February 2012, Pages 65–84, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1528-3585.2011.00448.x Published: 11 January 2012
Saudi on the Rhine? Explaining the emergence of private governance in the global oil market
Swiss trading houses enjoy 35% of global market share in crude oil. How can we explain the importance of Swiss traders in the global oil market? This article argues that Swiss trading houses are part of the private governance arrangements that emerged in response to the wave of nationalization sweeping across the world’s prime oil producers. As the global crude supply chains deverticalized following nationalization, companies created mechanisms t…
The Power of Policy Regimes
Shale gas policies vary significantly across Europe, notably in Russia-dependent Central Eastern Europe. Most strikingly, Bulgaria banned shale gas, whereas Poland remains firmly committed to fostering it despite its drawbacks. This article uses a policy regime approach to explain the shale gas puzzle. Drawing on a large set of interviews, the piece investigates regime strength as the causal factor that explains the adoption of specific shale gas…
Back to the future or forward to the past? Strengthening markets and rules for effective global energy governance
Current public policy debates on energy security are characterized by a singular focus on questions regarding access to resources. This lopsided attention to the geopolitical dimension of energy security is based on the myopic and erroneous presumption that global energy politics is necessarily a zero-sum game in which one country's energy security is another's lack thereof. In fact, debates deflect attention from the real issues that policy-make…
Governing global energy
The 2014 Ukraine-Russia crisis
Back to the future or forward to the past? Strengthening markets and rules for effective global energy governance
Current public policy debates on energy security are characterized by a singular focus on questions regarding access to resources. This lopsided attention to the geopolitical dimension of energy security is based on the myopic and erroneous presumption that global energy politics is necessarily a zero-sum game in which one country's energy security is another's lack thereof. In fact, debates deflect attention from the real issues that policy-make…
Governing global energy
A Public Policy Perspective on Global Energy Security
Journal Article A Public Policy Perspective on Global Energy Security Get access Andreas Goldthau Andreas Goldthau Central European University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Studies Perspectives, Volume 13, Issue 1, February 2012, Pages 65–84, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1528-3585.2011.00448.x Published: 11 January 2012
The uniqueness of the energy security, justice, and governance problem
The 2014 Ukraine-Russia crisis
Rethinking the governance of energy infrastructure
A liberal actor in a realist world? The Commission and the external dimension of the single market for energy
This article investigates the European Commission's external energy policy through the lens of the regulatory state. It argues that because of the nature of its institutions, policy tools and resources, the Commission remains a liberal actor even as the world leaves the benign pro-market environment of the 1990s and becomes more mercantilist – or 'realist'. The article tests seven hypotheses related to two key challenges as perceived by the Commi…
A Liberal Actor in a Realist World
Soft power with a hard edge
International security debates surrounding the European Union (EU) energy supply challenge commonly invoke the need for more EU hard power - e.g. getting tough on Russia or engaging directly with other exporters. This article investigates whether what might be labelled 'soft power with a hard edge' instead amounts to a consistent policy strategy for the EU. The central argument is that the EU has turned a weakness into strength, and developed a s…
Energy decisions reframed as justice and ethical concerns
When making decisions about energy, consumers and policymakers typically overlook moral issues, which can have profound societal consequences. This Perspective explores how ideas from justice and ethics can provide a framework to reconsider energy problems and better inform decision-making processes.
Conceptualizing the above ground factors in shale gas
Energy Technology, Politics, and Interpretative Frames
This article explores competing interpretive frames regarding shale gas in Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania. These countries face the choice of embracing shale gas as a potential revolutionizing domestic source of energy, against the backdrop of Russia serving as the dominant gas supplier. This makes them interesting cases for studying how policy narratives and discourses coalesce around a novel technology. The findings, which are based on sixty-six…
The Power of Policy Regimes
Shale gas policies vary significantly across Europe, notably in Russia-dependent Central Eastern Europe. Most strikingly, Bulgaria banned shale gas, whereas Poland remains firmly committed to fostering it despite its drawbacks. This article uses a policy regime approach to explain the shale gas puzzle. Drawing on a large set of interviews, the piece investigates regime strength as the causal factor that explains the adoption of specific shale gas…
Four scenarios of the energy transition
This opinion article offers insights into the geopolitics of the ongoing global energy transition. In doing so, it draws heavily on a workshop in Berlin in late 2018, and a subsequent paper in the journal Nature . Four scenarios are presented. First, the “Big Green Deal” offers a positive story of the future, under the assumption that there will be a multilateral approach to tackling climate change. Second, “Dirty Nationalism” explores the fallou…
Covid-19 and the politics of sustainable energy transitions
Imagining sustainable energy and mobility transitions
Based on an extensive synthesis of semi-structured interviews, media content analysis, and reviews, this article conducts a qualitative meta-analysis of more than 560 sources of evidence to identify 38 visions associated with seven different low-carbon innovations – automated mobility, electric vehicles, smart meters, nuclear power, shale gas, hydrogen, and the fossil fuel divestment movement – playing a key role in current deliberations about mo…
Horses for courses. The roles of IPE and Global Public Policy in global energy research
Although IPE and GPP overlap conceptionally and empirically, there is a case for keeping GPP and IPE analytically distinct. To simplify: GPP tells us why we need international regimes for energy, while IPE tells us why we only have incomplete ones. Although many scholars draw on both sets of literatures, the two approaches to the study of energy market, regulation and politics entail asking different types of questions based on distinct theories …
Saudi on the Rhine? Explaining the emergence of private governance in the global oil market
Swiss trading houses enjoy 35% of global market share in crude oil. How can we explain the importance of Swiss traders in the global oil market? This article argues that Swiss trading houses are part of the private governance arrangements that emerged in response to the wave of nationalization sweeping across the world’s prime oil producers. As the global crude supply chains deverticalized following nationalization, companies created mechanisms t…
Power, authority and security
This paper investigates contestation of authority in EU energy policy, with a focus on natural gas. It argues that the main challenge centers on the EU’s goals and means of energy security policy, not the location and scope of authority. The contested choice is between an across-the-board approach to regulation (Regulatory Power)- and a strategy that opens for the use of regulatory tools for geo-political purposes (Market Power). Competing claims…
Leviathan Awakens
This article explores the role of energy in regionalization processes, assessing the case of natural gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean (East Med). It makes three observations. First, we show that energy resources are a defining factor in shaping a region by rearranging the interactions and networks of actors involved in regionalization processes. Second, we demonstrate that such “energization” processes are not only—and not even primarily—at…
Are we at risk of an uneven low-carbon transition? Assessing evidence from a mixed-method elite study
Towards participatory cross-impact balance analysis
This Perspective article presents a novel, participatory scenario development method for studying the energy transition. It shows how moving towards transdisciplinarity can inform formal scenario analysis and enhance modelling by engaging stakeholders and scientific communities to co-develop energy transition scenarios. The innovative approach combines participatory elements of morphological analysis with formal cross-impact balance analysis (CIB…
The EU Energy Crisis and a New Geopolitics of Climate Transition
In 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine had a profound effect on EU energy and climate policies. The EU redesigned its approach to the geopolitics of energy security as it sought alternatives to Russian supplies with accelerated urgency. It upgraded its commitments to energy transition internally and through external actions too, whilst member states balanced these with the domestic politics of a cost-of-living crisis triggered by the war. The n…
Breaking the carbon lock-in
The Paris Agreement requires countries to break away from carbon lock-in, a particular challenge for traditional oil and gas producers. How can these countries overcome path-dependencies to shift from a fossil fuel heavy system to one relying on renewable energy? Malaysia epitomizes this challenge: the country is the second-largest oil producer in Southeast Asia whilst the fossil fuel energy sector takes up nearly 80 % of total greenhouse gas (GH…
A sustainability and governance index for assessing the EU’s green hydrogen import options
The European Commission’s REPowerEU plan set the target of importing 10 million tonnes of ‘green’ hydrogen into the European Union (EU) by 2030. Against this backdrop, this paper sets out to assess a central question: which countries can be identified as suitable partners for European green hydrogen imports? Using Germany as a reference case, the article develops a quantitative sustainability and governance index (SGI), assessing five dimensions …
Political science (23 works) · Economics (20 works) · Global Energy Security and Policy (18 works) · Business (16 works) · Law (15 works) · Politics (15 works) · Economic system (12 works) · Engineering (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Corporate governance (9 works)