The work of networks

Embedding firms, transport, and the state in the Russian Arctic oil and gas sector

Bibliographic Data

ID5090899
AuthorsScott R Stephenson (0000-0003-4143-2670, University of Connecticut, corresponding author), John Agnew (0000-0003-3248-409X, University of California, Los Angeles), John A Agnew (Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Year2016
Volume48
Issue3
Pages558-576
Publication date2016-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0308518x15617755
OpenAlexW2291084063
LanguageEN
Citations received27
References cited46

The "network" has gained widespread acceptance within economic geography as a metaphor for economic interaction. Consistent with a global production network (GPN) approach, extractive industries are deeply embedded in political structures, physical infrastructure, and environmental conditions. We advocate for a GPN framework that emphasizes the co-operation of multiple, differentiated networks at each stage of a production network. Furthermore, the physical geography of sub-national spaces as well as trans-national spaces linking resources with destination markets imposes critical constraints on the structure and operation of oil and natural-gas extraction. We attempt to move beyond notions of a singular network encompassing all aspects of production by contextualizing extractive activities within the geopolitical economy of Arctic Russia. Our aim is twofold: to develop a more carefully articulated conception of networks based on the different economic principles and political regulation at work within different types of networks, and to show how the Russian Arctic oil and gas sector can only be adequately understood with such a nuanced approach. The Arctic case illustrates well the complex entanglement of the state and political actors in networks of firms and specialized transport systems. We first deconstruct the network concept to establish the economic principles, actors, and spaces that comprise the extractive production network, and then examine the extractive hydrocarbon networks active in Arctic Russia through this analytical lens

Business · Economic geography · Economic system · Economics · Economy · Geopolitics · Industrial organization · Metaphor · Microeconomics · Political science · Politics · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · Computer Science · Engineering · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Mining and Resource Management

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