Introduction

Hydrocarbons have been central to Russian economic development following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Aided by foreign direct investment from North America and Western Europe, the Russian energy sector began to modernize during the turbulent 1990s and liberalize as a result of the…

Hypothesis

Russian sanctions in the period 2012–2018 offered a clear laboratory to explore the relationship that business interests have on the broader political agenda. It is worth noting that U.S. academics and the foreign policy establishment have long held that economic sanctions are not beneficial to public policy…

Delimitations and Limitations

Delimitations

Significance

Despite the prevalence of investment theory literature, there is a virtual gap in the literature concerning the influence of the energy sector on the development of public policy in the United States — with the notable exception of foreign policy toward the Mossadegh government in Iran (Abrahamian, 2013…