Oil and gas industry Impact on human security: relation between the national and the human (Case study: The Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia)

The oil and gas industry plays an important role in the economy and politics of the Russian Federation.The budget of the state is dependent on taxes and revenues coming from the export of oil and gas. Human security focuses on people’s perceptions of their in/security and articulations of opportunities and threats in their lives. It is strongly linked to notions of values and interests. In this study, the impact of the oil and gas industry on people was discussed using the concepts of state and human security. The research site was the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO). The approach articulated in the UNDP Report was chosen and different aspects of human security were used foranalysis. The discourse theory was the methodological background. Local people, policy-makers, and academics were discourses of security. They defined the security and impact of the oil and gas industry in different ways. The results showed that the interrelation between state and human interests and values provide insecurity for human in the NAO. Thus, the interests of the state and local people are different and even contradicting. People do not believe that the state can consider their opinions and protect their interests and rights. Thus, their political security is endangered. It was concluded that the interrelation between state and human interests and values provides mostly insecurity factors for human security in the context of oil and gas production in the NAO, while the state is guaranteed energy security, though faces other factors of insecurity such as environmental and political.

Keywords:

Oil industry , Gas industry , Human security , Energy security