The Nabucco Project Within the Context of Energy Supply Security and International Politics
The Nabucco Project is a project, which aims to transport rich natural gas resources of the Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East to the European market via Turkey. In this study, the Nabucco Project was evaluated within context of the energy supply security concept and international politics. Firstly, interdependence between national power and energy supply security was investigated. How oil and natural gas became strategic raw materials of world politics beyond being primary energy resources of the global economy was examined. It was found that discovery of rich oil and natural gas resources in the Central Asia and the Caucasus after the Cold War turned the region into a focus of interest of the global and regional actors. In this connection, perspectives of the global and regional actors about the Nabucco Project were examined.As a result of analyses and evaluations, it was concluded that the Nabucco Project is a project that can significantly enhance Turkey’s geopolitical importance and make Turkey one of the key countries of the east-west energy corridor.
Energy security and regional cooperation in South-East Europe
Up until the 1990s, the member states of the European Economic Community (EEC/EC) overwhelmingly considered decision-making in energy policy rendered best served by national governments. Then, the recession led to a sea change. Observing this shift begs two fundamental questions: (1) what framework conditions influence the causality between economic growth and energy consumption, and (2) how can we control for them? Distance, in the first instance, became the salient variable in the energy equation. Europe’s geographic remoteness from proven reserves of fossil fuels has threatened the pricing system. It has burdened the consumer, breaking down consumption volumes. Yet, distance is a controlled variable that cannot be mitigated by policy. Next, trade as an independent policy variable, was expected to allay both the increased conflict brought about by geographic proximity and the effects of distance in diminishing cooperation. The critical issue in respect of energy resources is that although trade may mitigate violent conflict since exporting and importing states are further a distance from one another, in actual fact it may also lead to an increase of non-violent conflict due to trade agreement disputes. Recent examples abound: Turkey (2003), Georgia (2008), Ukraine (2009). Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the First Gulf War, both considerations of distance and trade led European states to ponder anxiously on the sustainability of domestic economic growth. Exogenous considerations, too, such as foreign policy developments have weighed in significantly since 1990 towards supranational energy policy regulation. The production of oil, gas and coal is limited to today’s reserves. On the one hand, that is the fraction of the resources that can be extracted at economic costs. On the other, it is an estimate of reserves that can be found in the future. Both market imperfections and technical limitations to production rates slow market adjustments to changes in expected prices or costs. The more production grows bound to off-shore exploration, the less realistic the estimate and the more costly the extraction. As a result major
Community refinement of glaucoma referrals
AbstractAim To describe a Manchester-based glaucoma referral refinement scheme designed to reduce the number of false-positive referrals to the hospital eye service. To report on the first years results of this scheme and its financial costs to the NHS.Methods Patients with suspected glaucoma, instead of being referred to their GP and then on to the hospital eye service, were referred to a group of specially trained community optometrists working to an agreed set of referral criteria. Those patients who did not meet the referral criteria were returned to the referring optometrist, while those who met the referral criteria were referred directly to Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. The patient's GP was informed in all cases.Results The number of suspect glaucoma cases referred to the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital was reduced by 40%. This figure is close to the percentage of false-positive referrals measured at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital prior to the onset of this study. The information accompanying referral has been improved and the scheme produces a small financial cost saving to the NHS of approximately £17 per patient.Conclusion Community refinement of suspect glaucoma offers some important benefits over the current referral pathway.