The Political Economy of Energy in Russia

Resource nationalism among Russian academics: A centre‐periphery pattern?

“…The early-2000s rebound in oil output, fuelled by a price increase, prompted the Kremlin to regain ownership stakes via a series of acquisitions through the national champions, Gazprom and Rosneft (Bradshaw, 2009). Direct public control over 70% of the oil industry was restored by mid-2007 (Rutland, 2018). The confrontation quickly turned sour, as seen by the 'Yukos affair' and the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.…”

“…Nevertheless, Russia does not fit the picture of a petro-state spiralling out of control: Quite the opposite, 'it remains an industrial power -if an eroded one -with a developed state and a deep-rooted indigenous oil industry' and whose elite has endeavoured to tackle the recurring drawbacks of a commodity-driven economy through cautious fiscal and monetary policies, including the establishment of a stabilisation fund to set aside petrorubles (Gustafson, 2012, p. 7). Rutland (2018) adds a series of other characteristics (a relatively diversified economy with a robust manufacturing sector and a large agricultural base; a modern, literate society; a strong state tradition; the capacity to levy taxes on the oil and gas sector) that contradict the typical characterisation of petro-states. This notwithstanding, the nationalist discourse omits vulnerabilities and contradictions looming on the horizon of the energy superpower.…”

“…The history of the oil and gas sector in post‐Soviet Russia is full of twists and turns. During the 1990s, more than two‐thirds of the oil industry was privatised into a dozen large companies, owned by a new class of tycoons from various backgrounds: well‐connected bankers who won extremely favourable terms to lay hands on state assets, sold off through the controversial loan‐for‐share scheme; rampant industrialists such as Roman Abramovich, Vagit Alekperov and Vladimir Bogdanov who expanded their corporate empires in the same way; former ‘Red Directors’ of Soviet enterprises who managed to keep their place in the sun; and the ‘New Russians’ who seized the opportunities presented by the dismantling of the socialist system to accumulate great wealth (Fortescue, 2006; Rutland, 2018). This small group of oligarchs stepped into the void left by the state's retreat and came to dominate the most strategic sector of the economy.…”

“…1 | ENERGY POLICY AND EPISTEMIC COMMUNITIES Throughout Putin's term, the geopolitical depiction of the 'energy superpower' has become a potent mainstay for the restoration of Russia's global stature, which had waned with the dissolution of the Soviet Union (Bouzarovski & Bassin, 2011;Domjan & Stone, 2010;Rutland, 2008Rutland, , 2018. First introduced by Hill (2002), the expression was afterwards picked up and expanded upon by Russian officials themselves.…”