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National Oil Companies (NOCs) play an important role in the world economy. They produce most of the world's oil and bankroll governments across the globe. Although NOCs superficially resemble private-sector companies, they often behave in very different ways. Oil and Governance explains the variation in performance and strategy for NOCs and provides fresh insights into the future of the oil industry as well as the politics of the oil-rich countries where NOCs dominate. It comprises fifteen case studies, each following a common research design, of NOCs based in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. The book also includes cross-cutting pieces on the industrial structure of the oil industry and the politics and administration of NOCs. This book is the largest and most systematic analysis of NOCs to date and is suitable for audiences from industry and academia, as well as policy makers.
Through a series of case studies in diverse regions of the world, this book explores how transnational Norwegian energy and extractive industries handle corporate social responsibility (CSR) when operating abroad in places such as China, Brazil, and Turkey. With significant state ownership and embeddedness in the Nordic societal model, Norwegian capitalism is often represented as “benign” or ethical. By tracing CSR policy and practice—from headquarters to operations—this volume critically explores the workings of Norwegian corporate capitalism and its engagement with key issues of responsibility, accountability, and sustainability.
This book takes stock of arguments about the historical legacies of communism that have become common within the study of Russia and East Europe more than two decades after communism's demise and elaborates an empirical approach to the study of historical legacies revolving around relationships and mechanisms rather than correlation and outward similarities. Eleven essays by a distinguished group of scholars assess whether post-communist developments in specific areas continue to be shaped by the experience of communism or, alternatively, by fundamental divergences produced before or after communism. Chapters deal with the variable impact of the communist experience on post-communist societies in such areas as regime trajectories and democratic political values; patterns of regional and sectoral economic development; property ownership within the energy sector; the functioning of the executive branch of government, the police, and courts; the relationship of religion to the state; government language policies; and informal relationships and practices.
The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy contributes to the understanding of the ambivalent nature of power, oscillating between conflict and cooperation, public and private, global and local, formal and informal, and does so from an empirical perspective. It offers a collection of country-based cases, as well as critically assesses the existing conceptions of power from a cross-disciplinary perspective. The diverse analyses of power at the macro, meso or micro levels allow the volume to highlight the complexity of political economy in the twenty-first century. Each chapter addresses key elements of that political economy (from the ambivalence of the cases of former commu...
Ownership and Control of Oil examines government decisions about how much control to exert over the petroleum industry, focusing on the role of National Oil Companies in the production of crude oil since the nationalizations in the 1970s. What are the motives for which some producing states opt for less and NOT more control of their oil production sector? When can International Oil Companies enter the upstream industry of producing states and under what conditions? The diversity of policy choices across producers provides the stage for this investigation: different theoretical explanations are confronted, with the empirical evidence, with the aim of finally proposing an interdisciplinary fra...
As the world moves towards decarbonization and the race for clean energy technologies accelerates, states in the global south are increasingly called upon to supply critical minerals to fuel the transition. Business of the State details how mineral states might design effective growth strategies in this context of strategic competition and climate emergency, via the rise of a hybrid developmental strategy during 1990s and 2010s- the embrace of market-conforming policies to attract FDI and the re-assertion of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as players in industrial development. Drawing from the experiences of Brazil's Petrobras and Chile's Codelco, the book argues that SOEs might open new path...
This is the first handbook to provide a global policy perspective on energy, bringing together a diverse range of international energy issues in one volume. Maps the emerging field of global energy policy both for scholars and practitioners; the focus is on global issues, but it also explores the regional impact of international energy policies Accounts for the multi-faceted nature of global energy policy challenges and broadens discussions of these beyond the prevalent debates about oil supply Analyzes global energy policy challenges across the dimensions of markets, development, sustainability, and security, and identifies key global policy challenges for the future Comprises newly-commissioned research by an international team of scholars and energy policy practitioners
Since 1992, the European Union has put liberalisation at the core of its energy policy agenda. This aspiration was very much in line with an international political economy driven by the neo-liberal (Washington) consensus. The central challenge for the EU is that the energy world has changed, while the EU has not. The rise of Asian energy consumers (China and India), more assertive energy producers (Russia), and the threat of climate change have securitized the IPE of energy, and turned it more 'realist'. The main research question is therefore: 'What does a liberal actor do in a realist world?' The overall answer as far as the EU is concerned is that it approaches energy challenges as a pro...
"Foreign investments by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the oil and gas sector began a dramatic climb in the late 1990s amid rising oil prices. These investments are widely perceived to be politically driven, raising concerns about resource mercantilism and asymmetric interdependence. The book begins with the premise that the investments are commercial ventures by ambitious SOEs seeking to become global players. Applying the principal agent model, the book argues that the realization of their global ambitions depends on two domestic structural factors. First, democracies can limit investments with questionable viability, as it can be politically costly for elected leaders to endorse SOE decisions that prove unprofitable for the state. Second, bureaucratic structures overseeing the SOEs can help prevent counterproductive behavior, conditional upon a clear line of authority among bureaucratic principals on matters pertaining to SOE operations. The argument differs from previous approaches by exploring a range of institutional alternatives to privatization for solutions to problems of oil sector governance"--
Managing Resource Abundance and Wealth: The Norwegian Experience describes the sundry and significant challenges, both economic and political, facing petroleum-producing countries. The volume outlines the pitfalls that policymakers encounter in the aftermath of a major resource discovery, and what they can do to protect their countries from the most adverse consequences. These lessons are derived from two very different sources: The broader-if still underdeveloped-social science literature that examines the 'Paradox of Plenty' in its disparate forms; and the experience of a country that has successfully managed its natural resources over several decades. As a small country on the margins of ...