This paper examines the level and structure of fiscal revenues from the Baltics, Russia, and other former Soviet Union countries’ (BRO) energy sector and suggests reforms in energy tax policy. Revenues from the oil and gas sectors are about half the level that might be expected from international comparisons. Low oil revenues result from infrastructure constraints on oil exports, weak tax administration, and inappropriate tax structures. Low gas revenues are due to low statutory tax rates, a tax structure that does not capture monopoly or resource rents, and weak tax administration. Taxation of oil products could be increased.
Has the Russian state managed to lay the institutional groundwork for long-term stability and democratic governance? In Building the Russian State , Valerie Sperling assemblies a group of cutting-edge scholars to critically assess the crises in Russia's transitional institutions. Part I of the book shows that Russia's political elites are less focused on serving public interests than on enriching themselves, and examines how these elites are ruling Russia. Part II focuses on the growth of organized crime, the decay of the military, the precariousness of the Russian Federation, the weakness of the labor movement, the corruption of the courts, the challenges facing international reformers, and the authoritarianism of the super-presidential political system. By focusing on the challenges, failures, and occasional successes of the Russian political system, this volume offers upper-level undergraduates and other scholars valuable insight into post-Soviet politics, state-building, and transitions to democracy.
This paper discusses payments arrears in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, with emphasis on the gas and electric power sectors. Payments arrears, which were triggered primarily by the dislocations experienced during the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, have reached significant proportions in these two countries. Governments have aggravated the problem by not honoring their own bills and by condoning payments arrears outside the budget. The paper argues that the solution to the problem lies in the implementation of comprehensive systemic reforms and outlines possible measures.
This title was first published in 2001: Based on extensive research, this trilogy provides new insights into Post-Soviet transformations without taking refuge in the traditional assumption that Russia is unique. Using powerful analytical tools, this trilogy marks the re-integration of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) into the main current of political science. An invaluable resource for all those interested in Russia and the Post-Soviet states. This first volume focuses on state, sectoral, and transnational actors from a predominantly rational choice perspective. The book includes an extensive introduction by the editor which uses additional material gathered by the project team on two polls, 1999 and 2000, which, in addition to the individual studies, provide sufficient data to obtain unprecedented insights into the basic preferences and the logic of action of the main players in Russia. The outcomes of this research will be particularly relevant for students, researchers, journalists and decision-makers interested in Russia and the Post-Soviet states’ politics, international relations, economics, social policy and sociology.
The CIS-7 Initiative was launched in 2002 and endorsed by ministers from the CIS-7 and donor countries, with the objective of promoting poverty reduction, economic growth, and debt sustainability among the seven poorest countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This volume draws from the follow-up conference held in Lucerne, Switzerland, in January 2003. The objective of this conference was to achieve an understanding of the development agenda in the seven countries and the key policy measures to be taken by the governments and donors to improve future prospects for the countries’ populations.
Energy and environmental issues in the former Soviet sphere rank as global policy priorities for three reasons. First, civilian application of military nuclear materials multiplies the threat of terrorism. Second, Russian and Caspian oil resources affect world markets, Western energy security, and regional stability. Third, climate change may become a global challenge commensurate with the Cold War, and the transition economies--the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe--offer the world's largest and cheapest near-term opportunities for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, the region remains unprepared to deal with these issues, and Western assistance has failed to help. A "second generation" of reform efforts is needed, led from within, but supported by the West. In Energy and Environmental Policies in the Transition Economies William Chandler synthesizes disparate, specialized analyses and publications. He draws on a relatively large body of research on energy technology, oil and gas markets, geopolitics, finance, economic reform, and environmental science specific to Russia, eastern Europe, and the transition economies. In successive chapters Chandler reviews energy use, energy efficiency, nuclear safety and security, petroleum geoeconomics, coal, utility monopoly and competition, and environmental and climatic change in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe. Chandler also considers options for a "second generation" of reform efforts. The subject matter of the book is significant not only for the energy and environmental policies themselves, important though they are, but because those policies in turn affect regional political stability and Western energy security. Energy and Environmental Policies in the Transition Economies will be of considerable interest to policymakers in government, to private-sector actors, to academic scholars, and to students of international energy and environmental politics.
Analysing the key problems facing the transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe, this accessible book describes the legacy of the central planners, the progress achieved so far and the need for further reforms. It documents the outstanding successes and failures, and analyses why certain approaches to transition have worked and others have not. It tests where transition is over and shows how some countries have graduated from 'transition' to 'integration' through their efforts to join the European Union (EU). It discusses the costs and benefits of the eastern enlargement of the EU. The specific experiences of German unification, the Soviet Union's disintegration, and Russia's complex reforms are examined, as are the specific issues that need to be addressed in the Balkans. The book concludes by indicating how the expanding EU could help the poor performers through inclusion in a continent-wide integrated economic area.
Is the end of the nation-state approaching, now that the international economy takes less and less notice of borders between countries and the European Union has already acquired so much political power? What does national autonomy mean when governments delegate any number of powers to inter-national organizations? Internationalization leads to political change, and the position of the nation-state appears to be undergoing a radical process of erosion. The surprising conclusion of this book is that the political significance of the state will not be lost. The analyses show that both expansion and fragmentation of political power are characteristics of fundamental political change. While it is true that the state is delegating authority and that internationalization is limiting autonomy, the state is also finding new forms of cooperation and coordination, both nationally and internationally, to preserve and even to strengthen its power and autonomy. Contrary to widely held assumptions, the idea of a progressive weakening of the nationstate does not prove tenable.
Corporate Governance Lessons from Transition Economy Reforms explores a timely topic at the intersection of economics, law, and policy reform. To date, most sophisticated theoretical work on corporate governance has focused on advanced market economies. In post-socialist countries, corporate finance and transition economics scholars have often done little more than convey the received theory to transition policymakers. This volume focuses, for the first time, on the reverse concern: what, if anything, do the reform experiences of transition countries teach about corporate governance theory more generally? To investigate this question, Merritt Fox and Michael Heller have assembled a stellar group of corporate governance theorists. The answers are startling. The principal essays approach the problem from three complementary perspectives that form the organizing themes of the book. The first part refines core corporate theory terms. The second presents important empirical work that explores the channels through which "good corporate governance" may link to the real economy. The final part links corporate governance theory to practical reforms. After fifteen years of experience, practice can now inform theory. Together, these essays present a comprehensive new view on a provocative theme. Written in an accessible style, they will be of interest to a broad range of scholars, commentators, and policymakers.
Europe's economic and political landscape is changing dramatically. The demise of the socialist CMEA and the USSR has allowed eastern European economies to open up and caused Russia/the CIS to engage in a series of difficult reforms which have been supported by the G-7 and the International Monetary Fund plus the World Bank on the one hand, and, on the other hand, by the EU and the EBRD. While some of the (early) Visegrad countries apparently were rather successful in their transition attempt, systemic transition approaches in other countries - Romania and Bulgaria - and, above all, in Russia largely were a failure. Economic hardship, social unrest, political radicalization and the international spreading of criminal activities can be identified as problems from the failure of Russia's first transition attempt. This book deals - from an international perspective - with the postsocialist countries in Europe, i. e. there is a focus on eastern enlargement and on Russia on the one hand, on the other hand the topic is which international influences and effects will emerge from EU enlargement and the Russian transition. While chapter A exclusively deals with major problems of eastern enlargement and the policy options for dealing with this difficult problem, chapter B is devoted to the Russian transformation crisis. There the analysis has a focus on Russia in its own right but also on the potential negative spillovers of a Russian transformation disaster which could occur in the late 1990s.
