Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

From Economic to Energy Transition pp 29–61Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

From Economic Transformation to Energy Transition: The Legacy of Thirty Years of Post-Communist Development

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 610 Accesses

Part of the book series: Energy, Climate and the Environment ((ECE))

Abstract

We try to identify the main anthropogenic factors that influenced specific development in energy consumption in the post-communist new member states of the European Union—compared to the old ones. In line with the findings of empirical literature, we identify the usually internationally unparalleled, immense changes in economic output (GDP), population, and energy efficiency as the main driving forces behind declining energy use. Some other factors, most notably EU accession also had significant direct and indirect influence, but it is hard to assess their role. Paradoxically, while we witnessed dramatic changes in many spheres of the society and consequently in energy use, at the same time we see little change regarding CEE energy mixes, infrastructure, and often supply routes and import sources as well.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ágh, A. (2019). Declining Democracy in East-Central Europe: The Divide in the EU and Emerging Hard Populism. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Agora Energiewende. (2020). The European Power Sector in 2019: Up-to-Date Analysis on the Electricity Transition. Berlin: Agora Energiewende.

    Google Scholar 

  • Åslund, A. (2013). How Capitalism Was Built: The Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Åslund, A., & Djankov, S. (Eds.). (2014). The Great Rebirth: Lessons from the Victory of Capitalism Over Communism. Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atalla, T., & Bean, P. (2017). Determinants of Energy Productivity in 39 Countries: An Empirical Investigation. Energy Economics, 62, 217–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Backé, P., Korhonen, I., Ritzberger-Grünwald, D., & Solanko, L. (2019). A Tribute to 30 Years of Transition in CESEE. In ONB, 30 Years of Transition, Focus on European Economic Integration Q3/19 (pp. 11–29). Vienna: Oesterreichische Nationalbank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balázs, P., Bozóki, A., Catrina, Ş., Gotseva, A., Horvath, J., Limani, D., et al. (2014). 25 Years After the Fall of the Iron Curtain: The State of Integration of East and West in the European Union. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bokros, L. (2013). Accidental Occidental: Economics and Culture of Transition in Mitteleuropa, the Baltic and the Balkan Area. Budapest: Central European University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • CAN Europe. (2020). Funding Climate and Energy Transition in the EU: The Untapped Potential of Regional Funds: Assessment of the European Regional Development and Cohesion Funds’ Investments in Energy Infrastructure 2014–2020. Brussels: Climate Action Network Europe.

    Google Scholar 

  • CISL. (2019). The Energy Transition in Central and Eastern Europe: The Business Case for Higher Ambition. Cambridge: The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeLong, J. P., & Burger, O. (2015). Socio-Economic Instability and the Scaling of Energy Use with Population Size. PLoS ONE, 10(6), 0130547.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dietz, T., & Rosa, E. A. (1994). Rethinking the Environmental Impacts of Population, Affluence and Technology. Human Ecology Review, 1, 277–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • EBRD. (2020). Transition Indicators (1989–2014). London: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. https://www.ebrd.com/economic-research-and-data/transition-qualities-asses.html. Accessed 11 May 2020.

  • EEA. (2019). Energy Intensity in Europe. https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/total-primary-energy-intensity-4/assessment-1. Accessed 14 May 2020.

  • Ehrlich, P., & Holdren, J. (1971). Impact of Population Growth. Science, 171, 1212–1217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Commission. (2019). EU Energy in Figures: Statistical Pocketbook 2019. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission. (2018). Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the Evaluation and Implementation of the EU Nuclear Decommissioning Assistance Programmes in Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1528899280231&uri=COM:2018:468:FIN. Accessed 14 May 2020.

  • Eurostat. (2020). Database (Complete Energy Balances; Population; Population Projections). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database. Accessed 3 May 2020.

  • Eurostat. (2019). Energy Production and Imports. Statistics Explained. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Energy_production_and_imports&oldid=205127#Production_of_primary_energy_decreased_between_2007_and_2017. Accessed 15 May 2020.

  • Falcetti, E., Lysenko, T., & Sanfey, P. (2006). Reforms and Growth in Transition: Re-examining the Evidence. Journal of Comparative Economics, 34(3), 421–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Havrylyshyn, O., Xiaofan Meng, X., & Tupy, M. L. (2016). 25 Years of Reforms in Ex-Communist Countries: Fast and Extensive Reforms Led to Higher Growth and More Political Freedom (Policy Analysis No. 795). Washington DC: Cato Institute. https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/25-years-reforms-ex-communist-countries-fast-extensive-reforms-led. Accessed 10 May 2020.

  • Heilmann, F., Popp, R., & Ámon, A. (2020). The Political Economy of Energy in Central and Eastern Europe: Supporting the Net Zero Transition. https://www.e3g.org/library/political-economy-energy-central-eastern-europe-net-zero-transition. Accessed 7 April 2020.

  • Holdren, J. P., & Ehrlich, P. R. (1974). Human Population and the Global Environment. American Scientist, 62(3), 282–292.

    Google Scholar 

  • IMF DataMapper. (2020). Real GDP Growth. Washington DC: International Monetary Fund. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDP_RPCH@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD. Accessed 10 May 2020.

  • IMF. (1998). World Economic Outlook: Financial Crises: Causes and Indicators. May 1998. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2016/12/31/Financial-Crises-Causes-and-Indicators. Accessed 10 May 2020.

  • IRENA. (2020). Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2019. Abu Dhabi: International Renewable Energy Agency.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iwata, H., & Okada, K. (2014). Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Role of the Kyoto Protocol. Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, 16(4), 325–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jorgenson, A. K., Fiske, S., Hubacek, K., Li, J., McGovern, T., Rick, T., et al. (2018). Social Science Perspectives on Drivers of and Responses to Global climate Change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 10(1), e554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, R., Hong, J., Sotnyk, I., Kubatko, O., & Ismail, A. (2020). The CO2 Emissions Drivers of Post-communist Economies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-21193/v1. Accessed 10 May 2020.

  • Liddle, B. (2014). Impact of Population, Age Structure, and Urbanization on Carbon Emissions/Energy Consumption: Evidence from Macro-Level, Cross-Country Analyses. Population and Environment, 35, 286–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marinaș, M.-C., Dinu, M., Socol, A.-G., & Socol, C. (2018). Renewable Energy Consumption and Economic Growth. Causality relationship in Central and Eastern European countries. PLoS ONE, 13(10), e0202951.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mikloš, I. (2019, July 1). Mýty a fakty: Kruté a necitlivé reformy (píše Ivan Mikloš). Sme. https://komentare.sme.sk/c/22157944/myty-a-fakty-diel-prvy-krute-a-necitlive-reformy-pise-ivan-miklos.html. Accessed 2 July 2019.

  • Mišík, M. (2010). Security first: Energy Policy in the New Member States of the European Union. In D. Malová (Ed.), From Listening to Action? New Member States in the European Union (pp. 101–129). Bratislava: Devin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mišík, M. (2019). External Energy Security in the EU: Small EU Member States’ Perspective. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Morales-Lage, R., Bengochea-Morancho, A., & Martínez-Zarzoso, I. (2016). The Determinants of CO2 Emissions: Evidence from European Countries (Working Papers 2016/04). Castellón: Universitat Jaume I.

    Google Scholar 

  • ÖAW. (2018). Population Trends: Eastern Europe Is Drifting Away from the West. Vienna: Vienna Institute for Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/detail/news/population-trends-eastern-europe-is-drifting-away-from-the-west/. Accessed 10 March 2020.

  • Oravcová, V., & Mišík, M. (2018). EU Funds and Limited Cooperation: Energy Infrastructure Development in the Visegrad Group. International Issues and Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs, 27(3–4), 11–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrović, P., Nikolić, G., & Ostojić, I. (2017). Demografske determinante energetske potrošnje u Evropskoj uniji: rezultati ekonometrijske analize. Stanovništvo, 55(1), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roaf, J., Atoyan, R., Joshi, B., Krogulski, K., & IMF staff team (2014). 25 Years of Transition: Post-Communist Europe and the IMF (Regional Economic Issues Special Report). Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosa, E., Rudel, T., York, R., Jorgenson, A., & Dietz, T. (2015). The Human (Anthropogenic) Driving Forces of Global Climate Change. In R. Dunlap & R. Brulle (Eds.), Climate Change and Society: Sociological Perspectives (pp. 32–61). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Salim, R. A., & Shafiei, S. (2014). Urbanization and Renewable and Non-renewable Energy Consumption in OECD Countries: An Empirical Analysis. Economic Modelling, 38(C), 581–591.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sineviciene, L., Sotnyk, I., & Kubatko, O. (2017). Determinants of Energy Efficiency and Energy Consumption of Eastern Europe Post-communist Economies. Energy and Environment, 28(8), 870–884.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treisman, D. (2014). The Political Economy of Change After Communism. In A. Åslund & S. Djankov (Eds.), The Great Rebirth: Lessons from the Victory of Capitalism Over Communism (pp. 273–297). Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsemekidi Tzeiranaki, S., Bertoldi, P., Labanca, N., Castellazzi, L., Ribeiro Serrenho, T., Economidou, M., et al. (2018). Energy Consumption and Energy Efficiency Trends in the EU-28 for the Period 2000–2016. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsemekidi Tzeiranaki, S., Bertoldi, P., Diluiso, F., Castellazzi, L., Economidou, M., Labanca, N., et al. (2019). Analysis of the EU Residential Energy Consumption: Trends and Determinants. Energies, 12, 1065.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ürge-Vorsatz, D., Miladinova, G., & Paizs, L. (2006). Energy in Transition: From the Iron Curtain to the European Union. Energy Policy, 34(15), 2279–2297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2019). Europe and Central Asia Economic Update. Fall 2019: Migration and Brain Drain. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wyplosz, C. (2014). Twenty-Five Years Later: Macroeconomic Aspects of Transition. In A. Åslund & S. Djankov (Eds.), The Great Rebirth: Lessons from the Victory of Capitalism Over Communism (pp. 205–233). Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeboah, A. S., Ohene, M., & Wereko, T. (2013). Determinants of Energy Consumption: A Review. International Journal of Management Sciences, 1(12), 482–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • York, R. (2018). Energy Consumption Trends Across the Globe. In D. J. Davidson & M. Gross (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Energy and Society (pp. 165–179). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • York, R. (2008). De-carbonization in Former Soviet Republics, 1992–2000: The Ecological Consequences of De-modernization. Social Problems, 55(3), 370–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • York, R. (2007). Demographic Trends and Energy Consumption in European Union Nations, 1960–2025. Social Science Research, 36(3), 855–872.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zaharia, A., Diaconeasa, M., Brad, L., Lădaru, G. R., & Ioanăș, C. (2019). Factors Influencing Energy Consumption in the Context of Sustainable Development. Sustainability, 11, 4147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency Grant No. APVV-16-0062.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Zsolt Gál

Authors
  1. Zsolt Gál
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zsolt Gál .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Matúš Mišík

  2. Department of Political Science, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Veronika Oravcová

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Gál, Z. (2021). From Economic Transformation to Energy Transition: The Legacy of Thirty Years of Post-Communist Development. In: Mišík, M., Oravcová, V. (eds) From Economic to Energy Transition. Energy, Climate and the Environment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55085-1_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55085-1_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-55084-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-55085-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation