Oil Shock: The 1973 Crisis and its Economic Legacy

Description

The 1973 'Oil Shock' is considered a turning point in the history of the twentieth century. At the time it seemed to mark a definitive shift from the era of low priced oil to the era of expensive oil. For most Western industrialized countries, it became the symbolic marker of the end of an era. For many oil producers, it translated into an unprecedented control over their energy resources, and completed the process of decolonization, leading to a profound redefinition of international relations.This book provides an analysis of the crisis and its global political and economic impact. It features contributions from a range of perspectives and approaches, including political, economic, environmental, international and social history. The authors examine the origins of what was defined as an 'oil revolution' by the oil-producing countries, as well as the far-reaching effects of the 'shock' on the Cold War and decolonization, on international energy markets and the global economy. In doing so, they help place the event in its historical context as a key moment in the transformation of the international economy and of North-South relations.

Elisabetta Bini is Research Fellow at the University of Trieste. She is the author of La potente benzina italiana: Guerra fredda e consumi di massa tra Italia, Stati Uniti e Terzo mondo (1945-1973) and the editor of Working for Oil: Comparative Social Histories of Labor in Petroleum (with Touraj Atabaki and Kaveh Ehsani). Giuliano Garavini is FIRB Research Fellow at the University of Padua and Senior Research Fellow at New York University Abu Dhabi. He is the author of After Empires: European Integration, Decolonization and the Challenge from the Global South, 1957-1986.Federico Romero is Professor of History of Post-War European Cooperation and Integration at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence.

'The legacies of the oil price increases of the 1970s have never quite stopped unfolding, and continue four decades later to affect us in diverse ways. Oil Shock offers a timely and panoramic survey of the origins and consequences of 1973 at a time when oil, the politics of oil, and the Middle-east are once again back in the headlines.' - Gopalan Balachandran, Professor of International History and Politics, The Graduate Institute Geneva; "This superb collection of essays provides a comprehensive analysis of the 1973 Oil Crisis. Relying on a rich archival research and examining the multiple drivers, facets and reverberations of the crisis, the volume offers important information and insightful interpretations on a pivotal moment in the history of modern international relations. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the 1970s, the Cold War, and the origins of the current global energy regime." - Mario Del Pero, Professor of International History, Science Po Paris; "This book provides an important and valuable contribution to the understanding of the oil shock in 1973 and its long lasting consequences." - Einar Lie, Professor of Economic History, University of Oslo; "Fifty years down the line, the key factors that gave rise to the First Oil Shock (the Middle East in flames, the dearth of "easy oil") are still with us, and yet this anniversary was passed over in near total silence in both the media and academia. This valuable book is the crystallization of the commendable effort on the part of a group of Italian academics to make sure that hard questions about the First Oil Shock continue to be asked." - Juan Carlos Buoe, Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies