Nationalization, oil and political regime: a comparative analysis of the experience of the Soviet state and Latin American countries

Introductions. Oil production is historically an important part of government revenues in many developing countries. The Gulf monarchies are traditionally considered as typical ‘rentier states', while the Soviet Union is usually not classified as a Petro-state, although the USSR was an important oil producer for the global economy. The Soviet Union created a unique economic model, which was based on the administrative command methods of the national economy operation. Unlike the capitalist countries of the developing world, the Soviet Union did not create giant national oil companies to manage its oil resources, but the absence of such companies did not prevent Soviet oil industry from becoming an important source of revenue for the Soviet state. Methods. The article is organized as a comparative analysis of the Soviet Union, Mexico, and Venezuela, three countries, the governments of which nationalized their oil industries at some points in the 20th century. Results and discussions. The article shows that oil revenues played an important role in the collapse of the political regimes of all three countries after the dramatic decrease of international oil price in 1986.