Barriers to change? : understanding the institutional hurdles in the Russian forest sector

• Main Author: Olsson, Mats-Olov
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Luleå tekniska universitet 2004
• Subjects: Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies); Statsvetenskap (exklusive studier av offentlig förvaltning och globaliseringsstudier); Arkhangelsk; Arkhangelsk Oblast
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-18179

The ongoing transformation of the Russian society largely consists in changes in the institutional framework constraining actors' behavior in the emerging market economy. While we have a substantial knowledge about the functioning of a market economy we know very little about how to create such a system. The transition in Eastern Europe offers an opportunity to acquire new knowledge about the prerequisites for the establishment of a market economy. This thesis is based upon research performed in a project called "Institutions and the Emergence of Markets - Transition in the Russian Forest Sector" conducted between 1997 and 2001 at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. The purpose of the study was to identify institutional hurdles for the reformation of the Russian forest sector. The task was approached through a series of case studies of the institutional problems hampering developments in the forest sector of eight Russian regions. Data describing the behavior of forest enterprises was obtained through an interview survey among enterprise leaders in each one of the eight regions. The so-called Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework provided a common design for the eight case study reports comprising the first phase of the project. One such case study report is included in this thesis - the one dealing with institutional problems in the forest sector of the Arkhangelsk Oblast. Based on the previous eight case studies an integrating analysis was made with the purpose of identifying more general characteristics of the institutional framework embedding the Russian forest sector. The results of the analysis were reported in a journal article published in 2001. This article is also included in the thesis. In a third and final phase of the project, the results of the previous studies were disseminated through a series of policy exercises to forest stakeholders in four of the eight case study regions, the purpose being to see if a participatory policy formulation ...