Conceptualizing FDI in the Russian regions : Primore, Khabarovsk, and Sakhalin

Since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russia has attracted a minuscule proportion of global FDI-only 1 percent of inflows to developing countries. Worse, most of Russia's FDI is "market-seeking"-geared to the domestic market-rather than the more productive export-oriented variety which dominates global FDI flows. Well over half of Russia's FDI goes to Moscow and St. Petersburg, a disparity which aggravates the developmental dislocation between the national center and the rest of the vast country. In this dissertation, I examine variation in regional-level FDI policies-a key factor in attracting FDI to the regions. The empirical work focuses on FDI in the export-oriented industries of three regions in the Russian Far East--Primorskii krai, Khabarovskii krai, and Sakhalin oblast--all of which have been the object of intense interest from foreign investors. The three developed widely variegated FDI policies: During the 1990s, Primorskii krai grew increasingly hostile to foreign investors, Khabarovsk largely ignored foreign investment, while Sakhalin, actively sought out foreign investment. The dissertation finds that policy variation is a product of gubernatorial power. It shows that regional governors wielded decisive power in policy areas which directly affected FDI inflows-foreign acquisition of stock in privatizing Russian enterprises, joint-ventures, the development of legislation governing.foreign investment into new "greenfield" ventures. Examining a wide range of explanations for regional policy variation, the dissertation finds that objectivist theories can not adequately explain variation in the govemors' FDI policies.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Political Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• Burns, Katherine G. (Katherine Georgiana), 1964-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Richard Samuels.

• Political Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29982

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29982