Dr Wojciech Ostrowski
Co-convenor: Climate Change, Energy Policy and Sustainability Research Group
MA Course Leader: Energy and Environmental Change
PhD in International Relations (University of St Andrews); MSc by Research in Politics (University of Edinburgh); MA in International Relations (University of Kent at Canterbury); BA in History and Politics (Queen Mary, University of London)
Wojciech joined the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster in 2016. Prior to that (2010-2015), he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in International Politics of Energy and Mineral Resources at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy, University of Dundee; Research Fellow in Energy Security in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Westminster and a Visiting Research Fellow in L’Institut d'Économie et de Politique de l'Énergie, University of Grenoble.
His research concentrates on the areas of energy security, political economy of resources and international relations with a regional focus on Central Asia and Eastern Europe. He is an author of Politics and Oil in Kazakhstan (Routledge 2010 and 2011), and an author and co-editor of Global Resources: Conflict and Cooperation (co-edited with Roland Dannreuther) ( Palgrave 2013); Understanding Energy Security in Central and Eastern Europe: Russia, Transition and National Interest (co-edited with Eamonn Butler) (Routledge 2018); Handbook on Oil and International Relations (co-edited with Roland Dannreuther) (Edward Elgar, Forthcoming).
He has developed and led BA and MA modules and a MoD short course on the global and regional politics of energy and environmental change.
My research concentrates on the areas of energy security, political economy of resources and international relations with a regional focus on Central Asia and Central and Eastern Europe.
Handbook on Oil and International Relations (Edward Elgar Publishing 2022) (edited volume with Roland Dannreuther)
‘The Handbook on Oil and International Relations surveys a vast field of scholarship in a manner that is both authoritative and insightful. The contributors, who are some of the top scholars in their respective areas, bring to bear a considerable degree of theoretical sophistication, while their empirical grasp of specific regions is invaluable. This fills a gap in the field and will be read widely.’ – Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, University of Oxford, UK
‘Oil politics is a core driver of international politics, from the roots of war to economic relations. This book covers a wide-ranging set of topics, with chapters by some of the top scholars in the field.’ – Jeff Colgan, Brown University, US
‘Dannreuther and Ostrowski have succeeded in bringing together some of the world’s foremost experts on the global petroleum sector. Although the oil industry is to be phased out, it is still going to be around for a while and it is still big – so we still need to understand how it works.’ – Indra Overland, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Norway
Understanding Energy Security in Central and Eastern Europe: Russia, Transition and National Interest (Routledge 2018) (edited volume with Eamonn Butler)
The purpose of this book is to move beyond the approach which views energy as a purely geopolitical tool of the Russian state and assumes a 'one size fits all' approach to energy security in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It argues that in order to fully understand Russian involvement in the regional energy complex, the CEE-Russian energy relationship should be analysed in the context of the political and economic transitions that Russia and the CEE states underwent. The chapters on individual countries in the book demonstrate that, although Russia has and will continue to play a substantial role in the CEE energy sector, the scope of its possible influence has been overstated.
Global Resources: Conflict and Cooperation (Palgrave 2013) (edited volume with Roland Dannreuther)
“For long on the margins of the study of international politics, natural resources have made a comeback over the last decade, in tandem with the rise of prices and the politicization of global markets. Pulling together some of the leading experts in this vast field, this collection of essays stands out for its thoroughness, critical acumen and comprehensive review of the relevant scholarly literature.” Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, University of Oxford, International Affairs 90: 6, 2014.
Politics and Oil in Kazakhstan (Routledge 2010; Paperback Edition 2011) (single-authored monograph)
“Ostrowski’s command of the topic is impressive. His study includes many interesting facts that will be valuable for researchers. He conducted in-depth interviews with high-ranking representatives of numerous bodies...Ostrowski’s study provides a good example of how informal political relations and behaviour are an important mechanism in maintaining the Kazakh regime. It is a good empirical contribution to the existing literature on resource-rich post-Soviet countries and their political economy.” - Julia Kusznir, Europe-Asia Studies, 62:8, 2010
“[The study] markedly improves our understanding of the political economy of a petrol-rich state... [it] will become a touchstone for anyone working in this area... [and] represents an important contribution to our understanding of Kazakhstan in the 1990s and 2000s.” - Edward Schatz, University of Toronto; Central Asian Survey, Vol. 30, No. 1, March 2011
“Wojciech Ostrowski has written a detailed and highly competent survey of the period from independence until the mid-2000s, when Kazakhstan’s political economy of oil was inconsistently established as a source of rents and the basis of regime security.” - John Heathershaw, University of Exeter, International Affairs 88: 4, 2012
