Lainsäädäntö ja taistelu luonnonvarojen hallinnasta Venäjällä

Abstrakti

The governance of natural resources has been a debated
issue during the Russian transformation. This
article focuses on institutional change in governing
Russian natural resources by applying Douglass
North’s concept of path-dependency to explain the
development of Russian legislation. Since all natural
resources were state-owned in the Soviet Union, the
first severe conflict over resources did not break
out between private and state owners, but between
the federal centre and its regions (subjects of the
federation). An authoritarian approach to power,
combined with the threat of the federation coming
apart gradually, gave the federal centre a total
victory over the regions. After Russian state-owned
companies were privatised, enriching a small group
of Russian oligarchs, the pressure to allow private
ownership of natural resources has become more
intense. This struggle causes constant changes in
legislation and leads to ambiguity and insecurity in
property rights. The ambiguity of Russian legislation
on natural resources, as well as its strict and
repressive nature, gives unofficial institutions the
main role in enforcement, especially in softening and
rationalising the harsh effects of the law.