Colonial and Postcolonial Oil Politics in the Persian Gulf

This book examines the British colonial and American post-colonial oil policies toward the Persian Gulf from a postcolonial critical perspective, taking into account the coloniality and postcoloniality of power structures. It examines colonization, decolonization, and postcolonization of oil in the Persian Gulf through the parameters of political order, formulated policies, market structure, concession system, imperial/national interests, and great powers rivalry. In this work, the author uses qualitative, theory testing, and comparative case study method. There are several reasons that are encouraging for the selection of these two cases: first, British colonial and American post-colonial oil policies toward the Gulf region show similar patterns of domination and exploitation; second, both colonial and post-colonial great powers consider the control of the Gulf oil among their national security priorities; third, both use military interventions, install military bases and involve in coup d’etat in the region to maintain their established oil order; and fourth, both justifies their colonial/imperial oil order in the region with humanitarian objectives such as ‘civilizing mission’ or ‘democratization.’ In this research, the state-level of analysis is used to explore the oil policies of Anglo-American governments. The governance history of oil in the Persian Gulf can be broadly divided into three phases: (1) the colonial period 1901–1950; (2) the decolonization period 1950–1972; and (3) the post-colonial period, since the mid-1970s to the present. Chronologically, the oil policies of Anglo-American governments are examined in loose temporal and spatial contexts, and each period is introduced in independent chapters, but they are complementary to each other. Contents About the Author Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1 The British and American Oil Colonialism in the Persian Gulf 2 Oil Politics 3 On the Methodology and Theoretical Perspective of the Book References 2 Coloniality 1 Introduction 2 Colonialism 3 Imperialism 4 Decolonization 5 Neocolonialism 6 Conclusion References 3 Postcoloniality 1 Introduction: Postcolonial Studies 2 Postcolonial Reading 3 Postcolonialism 4 Postcolonial Critique 5 Postcolonial Discourse Analysis 6 Postcolonial Theory 7 Postcolonial International Relations Theory 8 Conclusion References 4 Political Order 1 Introduction 2 The Pattern of British Colonial Order 3 The British Colonial Order in the Gulf 4 The Patterns of American Empire 4.1 American Exceptional Empire 4.2 The Turner’s Frontier Thesis and the American Continental Expansion 4.3 Mahan’s Sea Power Thesis and American Pacific Ocean Expansion 4.4 Monroe’s Open Door Doctrine 5 American Imperium in the Gulf 6 Conclusion References 5 Oil Governance 1 Introduction 2 Colonial Oil Governance 3 Postcolonial Oil Governance 4 Conclusion References 6 Oil Companies 1 Introduction 2 Oil Companies in the Colonial Order 2.1 The Red Line Agreement 2.2 The Achnacarry Agreement (As-Is) 3 Oil Companies in the Postcolonial Order 4 Conclusion References 7 Oil Concessions 1 Introduction 2 The Colonial Oil Concession System 2.1 Iran 2.2 Iraq 2.3 Saudi Arabia 2.4 The Gulf Sheikhdoms 3 The Postcolonial Oil Contracts 4 Conclusion References 8 Oil Politics 1 Introduction 2 The British Imperial Oil Policies 2.1 The Formation of Imperial Oil Policy 2.2 The Royal Navy, Churchill, and Oil Business 2.3 The First World War 2.4 The Second World War 3 American Foreign Oil Policies 3.1 The Open Door Policy 3.2 The Roosevelt National Security Doctrine 3.3 The Truman Containment Doctrine 3.4 The Nixon Twin Pillar Doctrine 3.5 The Carter Doctrine 3.6 The Clinton Double Containment Doctrine 3.7 The Colonial Policies of George W. Bush 3.8 The Trump Doctrine: America First 4 Conclusion References 9 Oil Rivalries 1 Introduction 2 Colonial Oil Rivalries 2.1 The British Empire and the United States 2.2 The British Empire and Russia 2.3 The British Empire and Germany 2.4 The British Empire and France 3 Postcolonial Oil Rivalries 4 The United States and China 4.1 The United States and Russia 4.2 The United States and the European Union 4.3 The United States and the United Kingdom 5 Conclusion References 10 Decolonization of Oil 1 Introduction 2 The Decolonization of Oil in the Arab Gulf Countries 2.1 The Outright Nationalization 2.2 The State Participation 3 The Decolonization of Oil in Iran 4 Conclusion References 11 The Arab Oil Weapon 1 Introduction 2 The 1956 Suez Crisis and the Arab Oil Embargo 3 The 1967 Arab–Israeli War and the Arab Oil Embargo 4 The 1973 Arab–Israeli War and the Arab Oil Weapon 5 Conclusion References 12 OPEC and IEA 1 Introduction 2 OPEC 2.1 OPEC and Arab Politics 2.2 OPEC Oil Production and Price Policies 3 International Energy Agency (IEA) 4 Conclusion References 13 Conclusion 1 Introduction 2 Divide, Rule, and Exploit 3 Oil Concessions: The Legitimization of Exploitation 4 Military Bases, Occupations, and Coups 5 The Representation Patterns: Trade-Piracy and Democracy-Terrorism Index