“Arab Oil Belongs to the Arabs”: Raw Material Sovereignty, Cold War Boundaries, and the Nationalisation of the Iraq Petroleum Company, 1967–1973

Abstract

Drawing from material in American and British national archives, the Johnson and Nixon presidential libraries, the archives of the International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations record, this article examines the international politics surrounding the June 1972 nationalisation of the Iraq Petroleum Company. The response to the nationalisation reveals a complex relationship between traditional Cold War concerns and the emergence of a Third World challenge to the structure of the post-war international economy: the practice of raw material sovereignty. Although Soviet aid to the Ba'ath government was central to nationalisation, it was far from exclusive. Accordingly, the nationalisation illustrates the dynamism of the Cold War era and places on display important forces that operated independently of Cold War constraints.