In the aftermath of the financial collapse of August 1998, it looked as if Russia's day as a superpower had come and gone. That it should recover and reassert itself after less than a decade is nothing short of an economic and political miracle. Based on extensive research, including several interviews with Vladimir Putin, this revealing book chronicles Russia's dramatic reemergence on the world stage, illuminating the key reason for its rebirth: the use of its ever-expanding energy wealth to reassert its traditional great power ambitions. In his deft, informative narrative, Marshall Goldman traces how this has come to be, and how Russia is using its oil-based power as a lever in world politics. The book provides an informative overview of oil in Russia, traces Vladimir Putin's determined effort to reign in the upstart oil oligarchs who had risen to power in the post-Soviet era, and describes Putin's efforts to renationalize and refashion Russia's industries into state companies and his vaunted "national champions" corporations like Gazprom, largely owned by the state, who do the bidding of the state. Goldman shows how Russia paid off its international debt and has gone on to accumulate the world's third largest holdings of foreign currency reserves--all by becoming the world's largest producer of petroleum and the world's second largest exporter. Today, Vladimir Putin and his cohort have stabilized the Russian economy and recentralized power in Moscow, and fossil fuels (oil and natural gas) have made it all possible. The story of oil and gas in Russia is a tale of discovery, intrigue, corruption, wealth, misguidance, greed, patronage, nepotism, and power. Marshall Goldman tells this story with panache, as only one of the world's leading authorities on Russia could.

Local initiatives, local control and local ownership are increasingly characteristic of Africa's petroleum sector, as Ovadia sets out in his book

First published in 1999, this volume focuses on the impact of democratic bargaining on the process of oil policy-making in Venezuela, stressing the constraints posed by politics on PVDSA’s efforts to expand its foreign operations. Venezuela offers a unique case and fertile ground for the study of oil policy-making processes. In the specialised literature, very little attention has been paid to the nature and operations of multinationals from developing countries. By analysing Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PVDSA)’s international policy, this unique book explores the difficulties encountered by a major state oil enterprise in its efforts to grow beyond national borders.

Jeff D. Colgan explores why some oil-exporting countries are aggressive, while others are not. Using evidence from key countries such as Iraq, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, Petro-Aggression proposes a new theoretical framework to explain the importance of oil to international security.

First World Petro-Politics examines the vital yet understudied case of a first world petro-state facing related social, ecological, and economic crises in the context of recent critical work on fossil capitalism. A wide-ranging and richly documented study of Alberta’s political ecology – the relationship between the province’s political and economic institutions and its natural environment – the volume tackles questions about the nature of the political regime, how it has governed, and where its primary fractures have emerged. Its authors examine Alberta’s neo-liberal environmental regulation, institutional adaptation to petro-state imperatives, social movement organizing, Indigenous responses to extractive development, media framing of issues, and corporate strategies to secure social license to operate. Importantly, they also discuss policy alternatives for political democratization and for a transition to a low-carbon economy. The volume’s conclusions offer a critical examination of petro-state theory, arguing for a comparative and contextual approach to understanding the relationships between dependence on carbon extraction and the nature of political regimes.

Introduction : A Petrostate Typology -- Applying the Typology : Petrostates at War --Resource Arms Racing : Oil Wealth and Military Power -- Proxies and Altriusm : The Light and Dark of Oil Wealth -- Institutions, Intelligence, and Personalization : The Resource Curse and Foreign Policy -- Crude Power : The Oil Weapon in Practice -- Under the Umbrella : Soft Oil Power and Hegemonic Protection C -- Conclusion : Peak Petrostate? -- Appendix A: Methods and Measurements -- Appendix B: Oil and Conflict -- Appendix C: Military Spending and Arms Sales -- Appendix D: Soft Power, Sanctions, and Oil.