The book is an indispensable resource for undergraduate and graduate courses in international relations and diplomacy, governance, energy politics, and international political economy. In the book, Dr. Balmaceda presents The Cycle of Rents Model, which consists of four important components. First, the model looks at the political system and domestic political arrangements to understand the lack of reforms and clear policies post-independence years. Secondly, extraction as a source for potential rents, such as preferred prices from Russia. Thirdly, the model looks at how rent extractions affect distribution, which includes informal and formal institutions and mechanisms for negating and distributing rents. Lastly, the model included a recycling stage, which assesses what institutions and how special interest groups affect reforms and clear policy. Throughout the book, Dr. Balmaceda provide in-dept analysis on rent seeking by exporting Russian gas, selective payments, transfer of liability to the state, the use of barter system and price manipulation by FSU states. The book provides detail understanding as to how energy rents within the three states occurred in the forms of internal and external extractions, where internal extractions represented below market prices, and external extractions were due to increases of energy subsidies. The author provides excellent analysis of rent distributions by examining the political actors, formal and informal institutions involved. The author points out while some FSU states’ special groups and elites had greater access to distribution of rents because of informal mechanisms, others had large corporations enjoying greater access to distribute benefits. In the recycling stage, the author outlines how rent distributions became an important source for income and political purpose for states. Dr. Balamceda explains FSU states were unable to implement clear policies, because selling policies for higher prices for energy to constituents are not favorable and pose political risks for those in power.
Dr. Balmaceda makes a valuable contribution to the overall discussion and understanding as to why some states continue to rely on Russian energy supplies, as well as the reasons behind the lack of political will to implement new energy policies. The author stresses the significance of internal and external factors influencing such outcomes. The book suggests successful energy diversification heavily depends on the role of domestic politics, strong institutions, rule of law, and level of transparency to implement effective energy policies. These factors are necessary to understand ongoing relationships between internal dynamics among domestic stakeholders, as well as influences from external forces. The Cycle of Rent Model developed by Dr. Balmaceda is an excellent framework for analyzing other states, such as Bulgaria and Romania, which are actively trying to shift energy dependency away from Russia, by diversifying their energy portfolios. If states are actively trying to shift towards renewable energy and investing in new energy infrastructure, it would be interesting to observe the responses from domestic institutions and players. Also, it would be interesting to observe and assess the preexisting informal practices and less visible negotiation tactics occurring between special interest groups, and how they can create long-term implications for these states.
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