Working Paper Author:
Andrew Barnes
Working Paper Publisher:
Kent State University
Working Paper Publication Year:
November 2011
Working Paper Cover Image:
Working Paper PDF:
Working Paper Description:
Several years ago, I was struck by how prevalent an oil based explanation for the end of the Soviet Union had become among scholars, at least in conversation. As analysts began to think of Russia as a rentier state, it seemed that several of them also began to see the low oil prices of the 1980s as the major cause of the fall of the USSR. It was strange to me, given how small a role oil had played in most studies of the operation or breakdown of the Soviet Union, that it should have become such an accepted part of general discussions.
