No sector has been as vital as oil to the Russian economy since Vladimir Putin came to power. The longest serving leader since Stalin, Putin has presided during a period of relative economic prosperity driven largely by booming oil windfalls. Oil in Putin's Russia offers an in-depth examination of the contests over windfalls drawn from the oil sector. Examining how the Russian leadership has guided the process of distributing these windfalls, Adnan Vatansever explores the causes behind key policy continuities and policy reversals during Putin's tenure.

The product of over ten years of research, including interviews with decision-makers and oil industry officials, Oil in Putin's Russia takes an innovative approach to understanding the contested nature of resource rents and the policy processes that determine how they are allocated. In so doing, it offers a comprehensive and timely account of politics and policy in contemporary Russia, and a significant contribution to research on the political economy of resource rents in mineral resource-rich countries.

Dr Adnan Vatansever is a Senior Lecturer at King’s Russia Institute.

Previously, Adnan worked as a senior associate in the energy and climate program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a senior associate in Russian and Caspian energy at IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, and a consultant for the World Bank and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Adnan combines a wealth of industry knowledge and experience on energy markets with a robust academic perspective. He holds a PhD from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and M.A. from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He speaks Russian, Bulgarian, Turkish and English.

Research
Adnan's research focuses broadly on the political economy of energy and economic policy-making in Russia/Eurasia. His current book project aims to contribute to the so-called resource curse literature employing political theories examining allocation of energy sector rents. It is a case study of Putin’s Russia.

Additional areas of focus in his research include the following: the political economy of economic diversification; EU-Russian energy relations; the era of “smart sanctions” and the Russian case; Russia’s energy policy-making in the oil and gas sector; the rising role of Asia in Eurasian energy; state-business relations in Russia/Eurasia; state and market intervention in post-communist states; fiscal capacity and public spending in Russian/Eurasian context; rule of law and governance; regional development. 

Ongoing research projects include: European energy security and LNG as an alternative; EU’s gas diversification strategy; the politics of natural gas following new discoveries.

Source: King's College London