520 research outputs found
Market Reform, Regional Energy and Popular Representation: Evidence from Post-Soviet Russia
This article investigates the relative impact of regional energy production on the energy voting choices of State Duma deputies between 1994 and 2003, controlling for other factors such as party affiliation, electoral mandate, committee membership and socio-demographic parameters. We apply Poole’s optimal classification method of roll call votes using an ordered probit model to explain energy market reform in the first decade of Russia’s democratic transition. Our main finding is that the gas production factor is inter temporally important in the formation of the deputies’ legislative choices and shows Gazprom’s strategic position in the post-Soviet Russian economy. The oil production factor is variably significant in the two first Dumas, when the main legislative debates on oil privatization occur. The energy committee membership tends to consistently explain pro-reform voting choices. The pro-and anti-reform poles observed in our Poole-based single dimensional scale are not necessarily connected with liberal and state-oriented policies respectively.energy regulation, market reform, energy resources, roll call votes, legislative politics, State Duma, Russia
Energy Regulation, Roll Call Votes and Regional Resources: Evidence from Russia
This paper investigates the relative impact of regional energy production on the legislative choices of Russian Duma deputies on energy regulation between 1994 and 2003. We apply Poole’s optimal classification method of roll call votes using an ordered probit model to explain energy law reform in the first decade of Russia’s democratic transition. Our goal is to analyze the relative importance of home energy on deputies’ behavior, controlling for other factors such as party affiliation, electoral mandate, committee membership and socio-demographic parameters. We observe that energy resource factors have a considerable effect on deputies’ voting behavior. On the other hand, we concurrently find that regional economic preferences are constrained by the public policy priorities of the federal center that continue to set the tone in energy law reform in post-Soviet Russia.Energy Regulation, Energy Roll Law Reform, Energy Resources, Roll Call Votes, Legislative Politics, State Duma, Russia
Defect Modes in One-Dimensional Granular Crystals
We study the vibrational spectra of one-dimensional statically compressed
granular crystals (arrays of elastic particles in contact) containing defects.
We focus on the prototypical settings of one or two spherical defects
(particles of smaller radii) interspersed in a chain of larger uniform
spherical particles. We measure the near-linear frequency spectrum within the
spatial vicinity of the defects, and identify the frequencies of the localized
defect modes. We compare the experimentally determined frequencies with those
obtained by numerical eigen-analysis and by analytical expressions based on
few-site considerations. We also present a brief numerical and experimental
example of the nonlinear generalization of a single-defect localized mode
Energy Restructuring and Social Distribution in the Transition Economies of East Germany and Poland
В статье анализируются политические и экономические аспекты реструктуризации
энергетического сектора в Восточной Германии и Польше с точки зрения социального
распределения. Ее цель двояка: с одной стороны, она обеспечивает аналитическую дихотомию
между регулирующей и процедурной реструктуризацией, с другой - между горизонтальной
и иерархической. Таким образом, можно объяснить различные пути реформирования
энергетических отраслей Восточной Германии и Польши. Замена центрального и законного
правительства Тройхандом в Восточной Германии, а также центральная координирующая
роль правительства в случае Польши являются ключевыми показателями этих концептуальных
отличий. Постсоциалистические энергетические компании рассматриваются как механизмы
социального распределения, реструктуризация которых определяется минимумом
общественной собственности. Вопреки Тройханду, который стал институциональной основой
для передачи энергетического сектора бывшей ГДР на множество дочерних западногерманских
корпораций, польское министерство приватизации предпочло поддерживать экономическую
справедливость, а не разрешить проведение полной приватизации в энергетической отрасли
страны. Кажется, частные организации или государственные институты, которые связаны
с корпоративными интересами, имеют меньше стимулов для сохранения этого минимума
общественной собственности, чем центральное правительство. В энергетических секторах
переходных экономик, сохранение минимума общественной собственности, а не полная
приватизация является необходимым условием социального распределения.This article analyzes the politicаl economy of energy restructuring in East Germany and Poland from
the perspective of social distribution. Its purpose is two-fold: on the one hand, it provides analytical
dichotomies between regulatory vs. procedural and horizontal vs. hierarchical restructuring to
explain the different paths in the liberal transformation of the energy industry in East Germany and
Poland. The substitution of a central and legitimate government by Treuhand in the East German
case as well as the central coordinating role of the government in the Polish case constitute the key
indicators for these conceptual distinctions. On the other hand, post-socialist energy firms are treated
as social distribution mechanisms, whose restructuring is defined by a public ownership minimum.
Contrary to Treuhand, which functioned as an institutional sponsor for an ethnically-driven transfer
of the East German energy sector to a set of subsidiaries of West German corporations, the Polish
Ministry of Privatization preferred to adopt the equity constraint rather than regulate its energy policy
preferences through the private sector. Private organizations or semi-legitimate public agencies
captured by corporate interests have no incentive to maintain the public ownership minimum as
the central government can. The existence of distributive energy firms implies distributive energy
bureaucracies; the preservation of a public ownership minimum rather than inter-elite privatization
contracts is a prerequisite for energy-driven distribution in post-socialism
The Regional Origins of the Libyan Conflict
We explore the effects of Libya's administrative division into Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan on the onset of the Libyan conflict. We argue that Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, in particular, followed two different and distinct paths of political development and socioeconomic transformation. While Tripolitania and its elites are connected to the core of Libyan statehood and the legacies of Italian colonization, Cyrenaica is defined by localized political autonomy and economic autarky with respect to natural resources. Furthermore, the Qadhafi regime marginalized Cyrenaica politically, despite its major significance for the Libyan economy, because of its strong royalist inclinations. By offering an overview of Libya's political evolution and socioeconomic development, we indicate that the current conflict has largely been due to the asymmetric and artificial dominance of Tripolitania over the other two regions, particularly Cyrenaica
Arctic Conflicts & Russian Foreign Policy
In this paper, we analyze the intersections of legal and political dispute resolution methods in Arctic territorial disputes involving Russia and several Western governments, including Canada and the United States. There are two current disputes. The first dispute concentrates on the Lomonosov Ridge, a geological feature that runs near the North Pole and has been used by three states to claim the North Pole as part of their continental shelf. The second dispute deals with the legal status of the Northern Sea Route. Our paper evaluates the tradeoffs between the legal and political constraints in these disputes between Russia and the West, and considers the possible methods of dispute settlement. In the paper, we suggest that the resolution of Arctic conflicts is likely to include a set of legal-political equilibria, such as international adjudication, voluntary mediation, and intergovernmental regulation. The Lomonosov Ridge dispute is likely to be resolved by voluntary mediation through a voluntary conciliation procedure coupled with the political support of Russia, Denmark, and Canada. However, the Northern Sea Route dispute is likely to be addressed by intergovernmental regulation because Russia’s argument on coastal jurisdiction is opposed by that of the United States on international waters and the right to free navigation
Monetary policy transmission to Russia & Eastern Europe
In this paper, we argue that the ECB’s unconventional monetary policy
announcements have generated significant spillover effects in Russia and Eastern Europe.
The hypothesis is tested using OLS estimations of event-based regressions on monetary
policy event dummies and seven financial variables in eleven East European countries
including Russia. Overall, the empirical results associate the ECB’s unconventional policy
announcements with the appreciation of East European currencies, rising stock market
indices as well as falling long-term government bond yields and lower sovereign CDS
spreads in Eastern Europe and Russia. Notably, bilateral integration with the eurozone is
a key determinant of the strength of spillovers, with spillovers strongest in non-euro EU
countries and weakest in non-EU East European countries. Interestingly, we find
differentiated strength of spillovers to Russia compared to other non-EU East European
countries, which we attribute to its fixed exchange rate regime. Lastly, we test for the
presence of the portfolio rebalancing and confidence transmission channels
Discrete Breathers in One-Dimensional Diatomic Granular Crystals
We report the experimental observation of discrete breathers in a
one-dimensional diatomic granular crystal composed of compressed elastic beads
that interact via Hertzian contact. We first characterize their effective
linear spectrum both theoretically and experimentally. We then illustrate
theoretically and numerically the modulational instability of the lower edge of
the optical band. This leads to the dynamical formation of long-lived breather
structures, whose families of solutions we compute throughout the linear
spectral gap. Finally, we observe experimentally such localized breathing modes
with quantitative characteristics that agree with our numerical results.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Tunable Vibrational Band Gaps in One-Dimensional Diatomic Granular Crystals with Three-Particle Unit Cells
We investigate the tunable vibration filtering properties of one-dimensional
diatomic granular crystals composed of arrays of stainless steel spheres and
cylinders interacting via Hertzian contact. The arrays consist of periodically
repeated three-particle unit cells (steel-cylinder-sphere) in which the length
of the cylinder is varied systematically. We apply static compression to
linearize the dynamic response of the crystals and characterize their linear
frequency spectrum. We find good agreement between theoretical dispersion
relation analysis (for infinite systems), state-space analysis (for finite
systems), and experiments. We report the observation of up to three distinct
pass bands and two finite band gaps and show their tunability for variations in
cylinder length and static compression
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