Politics of Energy Dependency : : Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania between Domestic Oligarchs and Russian Pressure / / Margarita M. Balmaceda.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Balmaceda, Margarita M.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2018]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Comparative Political Economy and Public Policy
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (464 p.) :; 3 figures, 2 maps

Energy has been an important element in Moscow’s quest to exert power and influence in its surrounding areas both before and after the collapse of the USSR. With their political independence in 1991, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania also became, virtually overnight, separate energy-poor entities heavily dependent on Russia. This increasingly costly dependency – and elites’ scrambling over associated profits – came to crucially affect not only relations with Russia, but the very nature of post-independence state building.The Politics of Energy Dependency explores why these states were unable to move towards energy diversification. Through extensive field research using previously untapped local-language sources, Margarita M. Balmaceda reveals a complex picture of local elites dealing with the complications of energy dependency and, in the process, affecting the energy security of Europe as a whole.A must-read for anyone interested in Eastern Europe, Russia, and the politics of natural resources, this book reveals the insights gained by looking at post-Soviet development and international relations issues not only from a Moscow-centered perspective, but from that of individual actors in other states.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on Sources, Translations, and Transliteration -- Abbreviations -- Part One: Larger Influencing Factors -- 1. Introduction: Domestic Politics and the Management of Energy Dependency in the Former Soviet Union -- 2. The Legacy of the Common Soviet Energy Past: Path Dependencies and Energy Networks -- 3. The Domestic Russian Background: Domestic Choices, Foreign Energy Policy Levers, and Trans-border Rent-seeking -- Part Two: Case Studies -- 4. Ukraine: Energy Dependency and the Rise of the Ukrainian Oligarchs -- 5. Belarus: Turning Dependency into Power? -- 6. Lithuania: Energy Policy between Domestic Interests, Russia, and the EU -- Part Three: Conclusions -- 7. Conclusion: Managing Dependency, Managing Interests -- Appendix: Chronologies of Main Energy Events for Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index