Law and power relations in risk governance of oil and gas activities in the Russian north ...

• Main Author: Sidortsov, Roman V.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 2016
• Subjects: Russian North; Siberia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.44991; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/297937

This thesis is a socio-legal interdisciplinary study of risk governance in the oil and gas sector in the Russian North. Against a backdrop of the author's experience of training to be and working as a lawyer in both Siberia and the United States, it is based on four types of sources: (i) texts of relevant policies, laws, and administrative regulations; (ii) transcripts of official presidential meetings, addresses, and speeches on matters relevant to oil and gas development; (iii) observations obtained during fieldwork, including data from semistructured interviews; and (iv) energy statistics and results of various public polls. After a review of the basic characteristics and trends of the industry, highlighting the distinctive role hydrocarbons play in the Russian economy, society, and politics, the argument starts with theories of risk and risk governance in the context of the global energy sector. Moving on to rules of risk governance, the discussion homes in on how these rules actually work in the policy, ...