Thane Gustafson is Professor of Government at Georgetown University. A widely recognized authority on Russian political economy and formerly a professor at Harvard University, he is the author of many books, notably The Bridge: Natural Gas in a Redivided Europe and Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia, as well as Russia 2010: And What It Means for the World (coauthored with Daniel Yergin).
The history of Russia's oil industry since the collapse of
communism is the history of the country itself. There can be few
better guides to this terrain than Thane Gustafson, a professor of
government at Georgetown University who has been studying Russia
and global oil for more than three decades. His Wheel of
Fortune stands out amid a series of recent books on Russia,
combining meticulous research with a storyteller's gift. -- Neil
Buckley * Financial Times *
Few have studied the Russian oil and gas industry longer or with a
broader political perspective than Gustafson. The result is this
superb book, which is not merely a fascinating, subtle history of
the industry since the Soviet Union's collapse but also the single
most revealing work on Russian politics and economics published in
the last several years. -- Robert Legvold * Foreign Affairs *
Thane Gustafson has produced what will surely be the definitive
work on this subject... For the past twenty years Gustafson has
shuttled back and forth to Russia, getting to know many of the key
players. Having been present at the creation, he is uniquely placed
to combine an insider's knowledge of how the industry works with
academic analytical skills and a sophisticated understanding of
Russian culture and politics. -- Peter Rutland * Times Literary
Supplement *
Thane Gustafson's Wheel of Fortune is the fullest account so
far of Russian oil in the 1990s and 2000s... Wheel of
Fortune is...built on an impressive grasp of the way the
Russian oil industry works. But its arguments also have a wider
relevance for understanding the country's post-Soviet fortunes...
What Wheel of Fortune describes is not so much the
displacement of private companies by a state-led model as the
creation of a new hybrid form... This blurring of the personnel,
motivations and strategic orientations of state and private sectors
is the hallmark of contemporary Russian capitalism. No one reading
this book could think the Soviet system is simply being re-created
under Putin: the most likely outcome of another round of
privatizations, it suggests, is a concerted attempt by the
state-business elite to turn the companies it controls into private
property. -- Tony Wood * London Review of Books *
Russian oil has had a bumpy ride. The world leader in the 1980s,
the industry went into steep decline with the Soviet Union's
dismantling in 1991. When the Iron Curtain rose, the state's
oilmen-mostly geologists and engineers-were shocked by a global
industry rife with lawyers and traders. Now oil and roubles shunt
through the pipelines of new Russia but the relationship between
state and industry is often explosive. Energy-policy analyst Thane
Gustafson reveals Vladimir Putin's pivotal role, the effects of the
2008 crash, and the complex currents and uncertain future of
regional oil. * Nature *
An authoritative history of Russia's oil industry in the first two
decades of the post-Soviet era. -- Ed Crooks * Financial Times
*
[A] seminal work on Russia's oil and gas industry. -- Liam Denning
* Bloomberg *
A book considered by some as the bible on the history of Russian
oil. -- Jason Corcoran * bne IntelliNews *
Gustafson notes that the Russian oil economy is at a crossroads,
with no clear signal ahead. It might well revert to state control,
or it might become a free-market leader... A useful, readable
primer in a specialized but strategically important corner of
geopolitics. * Kirkus Reviews *
For specialists in geopolitics or global energy, this exacting and
lucid account should be required reading. * Publishers Weekly *
A thorough history...of the symbiosis of oil and politics since the
unraveling of the Soviet Union. Gustafson masterfully cuts through
the confusion of the immediate post-Soviet period to distil a clear
narrative about the struggles of the first Russian oil majors and
the oligarchs who came to control them; the contributions and
failures of international investment in Russia's oil sector; the
genesis of energy-attuned leaders; and the evolution of the
institutions regulating the sector today. After four decades of
studying Soviet/Russian politics and a concurrent two decades of
leading IHS CERA's Russian and Caspian energy consulting team,
Gustafson has a rare combination of academic understanding and
industry acumen, which informs a top-notch analysis of the forces
shaping Russia's current economic and political trajectory. The
book takes readers through stories of a motley cast of characters:
from a handful of obscure Siberian oil generals who inherited
control of prize fields, to budding businessmen who rose to become
some of the richest in Russia, to public servants for the city of
St. Petersburg who came to dominate the country's political
machine. Gustafson's research draws on scores of personal
interviews with key government and industry players over 20 years.
With a keenly observant eye, Gustafson tracks the impact that each
of these individuals had on the course of development of the oil
industry and its relationship with the political apparatus. --
Catherine Yusupov * International Affairs *
Gustafson has made an important contribution to the study of
Russian capitalism. -- Y. Polsky * Choice *
Thane Gustafson is the master expert on Russia's vast oil and gas
industry. In his latest book, which is meticulously researched and
lucidly written, he tells the story of the past two decades as the
hydrocarbon-rich Eurasian giant has sought, in fits and starts, to
shuck its Soviet past and become a normal, modern nation,
integrated into the global economy. -- Strobe Talbott, President,
Brookings Institution
Thane Gustafson has seen close up the wrenching challenges in the
Russian oil industry. This is an excellent book written from
firsthand experience. -- Lord Browne of Madingley, Group Chief
Executive, BP plc, 1995-2007
Wheel of Fortune not only provides the most comprehensive
history of the Russian oil sector to date, but its greatest virtue
is that it places the industry's rise in a broader political and
historical context that only a deep observer like Thane Gustafson
can provide. -- Francis Fukuyama, author of The Origins of
Political Order
A tale of the struggle for power and money in the Russian oil
industry-with fateful consequence for both Russia and the world. --
Andrew Gould, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,
Schlumberger Limited
Tells the story of how the industry evolved during the two decades
following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, competing
for or holding the top spot again since 2008. -- John Bowlus *
Energy Reporters *
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