The Relationship between Energy Security and the Sovereignty of the Kurdistan Region: (Conditions and Obstacles)

Energy security in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq faces many local, regional, and international challenges. This placed the management of oil and gas resources in the Kurdistan region into an uncertain political and economic equation. Despite the developments in investment and trade in oil and gas in the Kurdistan Region, however, energy security in the Kurdistan Region has faced many challenges, due to the existence of many conflicts, interests, and different understandings between local, regional, and international powers. This study aims to explain and evaluate the conditions and challenges that threaten energy security in the Kurdistan Region, and then analyse their impact on the sovereignty of the Kurdistan Region through the theory of the regional security complex. The results of this study, in addition to demonstrating the role of the parties and the influential actors in how to manage and develop the energy sector in the Kurdistan Region. At the same time, it reflects the danger of reducing the level of sovereignty and independence of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the local political parties in the Kurdistan Region over the territory of the region and its energy sector. Based on the results of this study, there is a dynamic and mutual relationship between energy security and the territorial sovereignty of the Kurdistan Region.