Oil and Sovereignty: Petro-Knowledge and Energy Policy in the United States and Western Europe During the 1970s

In the decades that followed World War II, cheap and plentiful oil helped to fuel rapid economic growth, ensure political stability, and reinforce the legitimacy of liberal democracies. Yet waves of price increases and reduced production in the 1970s demonstrated just how much the West's dependence on petroleum left it vulnerable to economic volatility and political unrest.__Oil and Sovereignty__analyzes the national and international strategies that Americans and Europeans formulated to deal with the era's disruptions. It shows how a variety of different actors combined diplomacy, knowledge creation, economic restructuring, and public relations in their attempts to impose stability and reassert national sovereignty. In the decades that followed World War II, cheap and plentiful oil helped to fuel rapid economic growth, ensure political stability, and reinforce the legitimacy of liberal democracies. Yet waves of price increases and the use of the so-called “oil weapon” by a group of Arab oil-producing countries in the early 1970s demonstrated the West's dependence on this vital resource and its vulnerability to economic volatility and political conflicts. Oil and Sovereignty analyzes the national and international strategies that American and European governments formulated to restructure the world of oil and deal with the era's disruptions. It shows how a variety of different actors combined diplomacy, knowledge creation, economic restructuring, and public relations in their attempts to impose stability and reassert national sovereignty. In the decades that followed World War II, cheap and plentiful oil helped to fuel rapid economic growth, ensure political stability, and reinforce the legitimacy of liberal democracies. Yet waves of price increases and reduced production in the 1970s demonstrated just how much the West's dependence on petroleum left it vulnerable to economic volatility and political unrest. Oil and Sovereignty analyzes the national and international strategies that Americans and Europeans formulated to deal with the era's disruptions. It shows how a variety of different actors combined diplomacy, knowledge creation, economic restructuring, and public relations in their attempts to impose stability and reassert national sovereignty. The world of oil in the 1950s and 1960s -- Shortages, forecasts, prevention : supplying the Western world with oil -- The global communication of the "Arab oil weapon"--The politics of sovereignty in the energy crisis : the United States -- West Germany within the world of oil -- Oil conferences : global interdependence and national sovereignty -- Petro-knowledge, the perception of limits and sovereignty : creating the oil crisis -- Conclusion -- Sovereignty in crisis and the oil crisis in contemporary history -- Bibliography Oil and Sovereignty explores the national and international strategies formulated to deal with the first oil crises in 1973-1974, as steadily increasing prices and reduced production raised the specter of an uncertain future for many.