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; Bayandor, 2010). Investment theory literature is not limited to a singular sector, given that one of the first pieces focused on the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Freeman, 1965), and the “father” of investment theory applied his landmark study to critical realignment elections in the twentieth century (Ferguson, 1995). However, the existing literature is heavily weighted toward the finance sector (Yu & Yu, 2011; Cohen, et al., 2013; Tahoun, 2014; Akey, 2015; Tahoun & van Lent, 2019). Alternatively, business conflict model literature is not prevalent, but the studies that have been realized are interdisciplinary, exploring the development of coalitions that impact foreign and global policy (Frieden, 1988; Gibbs, 1991; Cox, 1994; Fordham, 1998; Falkner, 2008). However, no literature exists that discusses either investment theory or the business conflict model in the context of the energy sector. Moreover, no literature exists that discusses how either investment theory or the business conflict model impact sanctions development in the United States, let alone concerning the development of U.S. sanctions targeting the Russian Federation. The literature that does exist in relation to Russian sanctions only focuses on their impact (Servettaz, 2014; Kochajdova, 2019) or their legal basis (Doraev 2015). The present study sought to expand on both investment theory and business conflict model literature by incorporating the energy sector and sanctions development. The present study also sought to expand on existing sanctions literature to include the influence of business interests on sanctions development. Additionally, the present study sought to broaden energy policy literature to discuss the impact of the industry on Russo-American foreign policy.
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