Lessons from the Cold War Energy Confrontation

Abstract

As the engine of modern economies petroleum have played a central role in international relations over the past 120 years. The rivalry over access to and control of oil has been the source of many conflicts in the 20th century. The security of oil supplies at reasonable and stable prices is one of the highest priorities of any government. Energy became too important to be neglected by international relations scholars. The Age of Great Upheaval by Olga N. Skorokhodova takes us back to the period 1970s – 1986 when the two oil shocks shook not only the world economy but also the world politics. Based on hitherto little known documents from Russian and Western archives, this book combines the story of oil sector politics with general Cold War history. The oil crises raised questions about the ability of the United States to ensure access to Middle East oil, heightened concerns about the dangers of Western dependence on Third World resources, and fed fears that the Soviet Union was winning the bipolar confrontation with the capitalist world. Although initially harmed the Western bloc and contributed to the demise of détente, the developments in the 1970s also set in motion changes that led to the end of the Cold War.