Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
2
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of oil and gas contracts management, Faculty of Economics, University of Imam Sadiq, Tehran, Iran.
3
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Science and technology policy making, Faculty of Management, Economics and Progress Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
4
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of oil and gas contracts management, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
The Intensification of economic pressures on Iran through the imposition of sanctions, led to the development of the ‘Resistive economy’ doctrine as the central economic strategy during the early 2010’s. This was followed by the ratification of related public policies during 2013. Concentrating on the energy sector, the main objectives of the present study is to examine the extent to which adopted policies cohere with the central tenants of the “Resistive Economics” doctrine, as originally proposed by the leadership of Iran. Additionally, the study purports to examine if there is any potential for improving current policies by drawing on the findings of mainstream literature.
Utilizing the ‘Descriptive research method’ and ‘content analysis’ the study finds that: First, the central tenant of the ‘Resistance Economy doctrine’ is to make the Iranian economy resistant to shocks such as wars, sanctions and politico-economic pressures, rather than general and long-term goals such as increasing growth rate or reducing energy consumption. Second, some “policies” currently in place (such as increasing the National Development Fund's share from oil revenues) are too general, and do not necessarily help in strengthening the energy sector against international pressures such as wars, sanctions, etc. It is notable that these policies have already been mentioned under other upstream documents. Thirdly, a review of the mainstream literature, as well as an analysis of concepts such as ‘resilience’, ‘sustainability’, etc. shows that vital components which are essential for strengthening the energy sector against shocks (such as war etc.) have been largely neglected.
Keywords
)
