ÖZP 2009/4  S.423-436

Daniel Göler, Kristina Kurze

The EU as a transnational "Polity-Shaper" - The case of the Energy Community

Keywords: Energy Community, energy policy, enlargement, external governance, polity-shaping

Since the recent gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine energy security has shot to the top of the EU?s agenda, including the call for a common external energy policy. The role of the EU in international energy relations is thereby often framed in geopolitical terms. Not denying the relevance of geopolitics, this article focuses on the EU as an ?exporter of norms?. In contrast to most contributions written from an ?external governance? perspective, the article is however primarily concerned with the way in which the EU attempts to reproduce its institutional set-up and seeks to shape energy governance structures outside its territory. Drawing on the concept of ?milieu goals? developed by Arnold Wolfers (1962) it is argued that the EU acts as a ?transnational polity-shaper?. The concept of polity-shaping is then analysed with regards to the recently founded Energy Community.