ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the role that the use and abuse of Russia's oil and gas reserves has played in the emergence of a rentier oligarchy, and its implications for the future of the Russian state. It provides an overview of the social-historical context that enabled political and economic elites to successfully exploit Russia's primary source of revenue for their own ends. The chapter briefly describes the nature of the Russian government's policies toward the energy sector, which amounted to insider privatization of oil and gas production and continued state efforts to control their sale and distribution. It focuses on specific and general effects that these policies have had on the entrenchment of rent-seeking behavior among elites and the erosion of links between the state and society. Finally, the chapter concludes by exploring the implications of these effects for the future of democracy and the state in Russia.
