Russia's Nuclear Industry
Centralisation, Control, Competition
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Chernobyl, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and economic decline in the 1990s led to a deterioration of Russia's nuclear sector. After contradictory reforms under Boris El'tsin, Vladimir Putin's regime is trying to centralise the industry again, so as to boost its national and international competitiveness. The goal is to make the nuclear industrial complex an additional pillar – next to the gas and oil sectors – on which Russia can base its aspirant status as a "energy supplier great power". A neo-institutional analysis, however, shows that centralisation leads to losses in control. These decrease the chance that Russia's nuclear sector can achieve strategic significance.
(Osteuropa 4/2006, pp. 199–220)