Incentive-oriented economic statecraft by Russia in the nuclear energy sector of democratic countries

Abstract

ABSTRACT The literature on incentive-oriented economic statecraft, specifically its so-called domestic conditionalist strand, identifies the political arrangements in the target state as a primary factor in the success or failure of the sender state’s economic statecraft. Drawing on existing literature, this article on Russia’s economic statecraft in democratic countries focuses on the nuclear energy sector, arguing that democratic backsliding in target states might provide a window of opportunity for Moscow. The effectiveness of Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company, Rosatom, in building nuclear power plants in South Africa, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Finland is assessed in this article.