Oil, Illiberalism, and War

Oil, Illiberalism, and War
Author: Andrew T. Price-Smith
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2015-05-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0262327538

An argument that America's addiction to crude oil has driven a foreign policy of intervention and exploitation hidden behind a facade of liberal internationalism. The United States is addicted to crude oil. In this book, Andrew Price-Smith argues that this addiction has distorted the conduct of American foreign policy in profound and malign ways, resulting in interventionism, exploitation, and other illiberal behaviors that hide behind a facade of liberal internationalism. The symbiotic relationship between the state and the oil industry has produced deviations from rational foreign energy policy, including interventions in Iraq and elsewhere that have been (at the very least) counterproductive or (at worst) completely antithetical to national interests. Liberal internationalism casts the United States as a benign hegemon, guaranteeing security to its allies during the Cold War and helping to establish collaborative international institutions. Price-Smith argues for a reformulation of liberal internationalism (which he terms shadow liberalism) that takes into account the dark side of American foreign policy. Price-Smith contends that the “free market” in international oil is largely a myth, rendered problematic by energy statism and the rise of national oil companies. He illustrates the destabilizing effect of oil in the Persian Gulf, and describes the United States' grand energy strategy, particularly in the Persian Gulf, as illiberal at its core, focused on the projection of power and on periodic bouts of violence. Washington's perennial oscillation between liberal phases of institution building and provision of public goods and illiberal bellicosity, Price-Smith argues, represents the shadow liberalism that is at the core of US foreign policy.

Oil, the State, and War

Oil, the State, and War
Author: Emma Ashford
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2022-06-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1647122392

In Oil, the State, and War, Emma Ashford explores the many potential links between domestic oil production and foreign policy behavior. By examining the behaviors of three types of petrostates–oil-dependent states, oil-wealthy states, and super-producers–Ashford sheds light on the diversity of petrostates and how they shape international affairs.

A Century of War

A Century of War
Author: William Engdahl
Publisher: Edition.Engdahl
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2011
Genre: Great Britain
ISBN: 9783981326321

This is a story about power, power over entire nations and continents. The story describes the vehicle to that unparalleled power over nations, oil, and the vital role it has played in peace as well as wars in the past century. Henry Kissinger, the former American Secretary of State put it succinctly during the first oil shock of the early 1970's. He declared, "Control the oil and you control entire nations." A thin red line runs through the history of the world since Fashoda, and that is covered in oil and blood. This book is not for the faint of heart, but it is meant to provoke reflection and discussion among those who can see beyond the daily media manipulation of reality that is called news.

Oil, Illiberalism, and War

Oil, Illiberalism, and War
Author: Andrew T. Price-Smith
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2023-04-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0262547694

An argument that America's addiction to crude oil has driven a foreign policy of intervention and exploitation hidden behind a facade of liberal internationalism. The United States is addicted to crude oil. In this book, Andrew Price-Smith argues that this addiction has distorted the conduct of American foreign policy in profound and malign ways, resulting in interventionism, exploitation, and other illiberal behaviors that hide behind a facade of liberal internationalism. The symbiotic relationship between the state and the oil industry has produced deviations from rational foreign energy policy, including interventions in Iraq and elsewhere that have been (at the very least) counterproductive or (at worst) completely antithetical to national interests. Liberal internationalism casts the United States as a benign hegemon, guaranteeing security to its allies during the Cold War and helping to establish collaborative international institutions. Price-Smith argues for a reformulation of liberal internationalism (which he terms shadow liberalism) that takes into account the dark side of American foreign policy. Price-Smith contends that the “free market” in international oil is largely a myth, rendered problematic by energy statism and the rise of national oil companies. He illustrates the destabilizing effect of oil in the Persian Gulf, and describes the United States' grand energy strategy, particularly in the Persian Gulf, as illiberal at its core, focused on the projection of power and on periodic bouts of violence. Washington's perennial oscillation between liberal phases of institution building and provision of public goods and illiberal bellicosity, Price-Smith argues, represents the shadow liberalism that is at the core of US foreign policy.

The Oil Wars Myth

The Oil Wars Myth
Author: Emily L. Meierding
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2020-05-15
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1501748947

Do countries fight wars for oil? Given the resource's exceptional military and economic importance, most people assume that states will do anything to obtain it. Challenging this conventional wisdom, The Oil Wars Myth reveals that countries do not launch major conflicts to acquire petroleum resources. Emily Meierding argues that the costs of foreign invasion, territorial occupation, international retaliation, and damage to oil company relations deter even the most powerful countries from initiating "classic oil wars." Examining a century of interstate violence, she demonstrates that, at most, countries have engaged in mild sparring to advance their petroleum ambitions. The Oil Wars Myth elaborates on these findings by reassessing the presumed oil motives for many of the twentieth century's most prominent international conflicts: World War II, the two American Gulf wars, the Iran–Iraq War, the Falklands/Malvinas War, and the Chaco War. These case studies show that countries have consistently refrained from fighting for oil. Meierding also explains why oil war assumptions are so common, despite the lack of supporting evidence. Since classic oil wars exist at the intersection of need and greed—two popular explanations for resource grabs—they are unusually easy to believe in. The Oil Wars Myth will engage and inform anyone interested in oil, war, and the narratives that connect them.

The Encyclopedia of Diplomacy, 4 Volume Set

The Encyclopedia of Diplomacy, 4 Volume Set
Author: Gordon Martel
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 2173
Release: 2018-04-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1118887913

The Encyclopedia of Diplomacy is a complete and authoritative 4-volume compendium of the most important events, people and terms associated with diplomacy and international relations from ancient times to the present, from a global perspective. An invaluable resource for anyone interested in diplomacy, its history and the relations between states Includes newer areas of scholarship such as the role of non-state organizations, including the UN and Médecins Sans Frontières, and the exercise of soft power, as well as issues of globalization and climate change Provides clear, concise information on the most important events, people, and terms associated with diplomacy and international relations in an A-Z format All entries are rigorously peer reviewed to ensure the highest quality of scholarship Provides a platform to introduce unfamiliar terms and concepts to students engaging with the literature of the field for the first time

From Big Oil to Big Green

From Big Oil to Big Green
Author: Marco Grasso
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2022-05-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 026236977X

How Big Oil can transform itself into Big Green through reparation and decarbonization to rectify the harm it has done through fossil fuels. In From Big Oil to Big Green, Marco Grasso examines the responsibility of the oil and gas industry for the climate crisis and develops a moral framework that lays out its duties of reparation and decarbonization to allay the harm it has done. By framing climate change as a moral issue and outlining the industry’s obligation to tackle it, Grasso shows that Big Oil is a central, yet overlooked, agent of climate ethics and policy. Grasso argues that by indiscriminately flooding the global economy with fossil fuels—while convincing the public that halting climate change is a matter of consumer choice, that fossil fuels are synonymous with energy, and that a decarbonized world would take civilization back to the Stone Age—Big Oil is morally responsible for the climate crisis. He explains that it has managed to avoid being held financially accountable for past harm and that its duty of reparation has never been theoretically developed or justified. With this book, he fills those gaps. After making the moral case for climate reparations and their implementation, Grasso develops Big Oil’s duty of decarbonization, which entails its transformation into Big Green by phasing out carbon emissions from its processes and, especially, its products.

Republic in Peril

Republic in Peril
Author: David C. Hendrickson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2017-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190660406

In Republic in Peril, David C. Hendrickson advances a powerful critique of American policy since the end of the Cold War. America's outsized military spending and global commitments, he shows, undermine rather than uphold international order. They raise rather than reduce the danger of war, imperiling both American security and domestic liberty. An alternative path lies in a new internationalism in tune with the United Nations Charter and the philosophy of republican liberty embraced by America's founders. The sum of the conventional view-touted by the national security establishment and embraced by Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush-is that it is impossible to have a liberal world order unless America has hostile relations with Russia, China, and Iran, together with a shifting cast of lesser states. Donald Trump, iconoclastic is so many ways, promises to bring the militarization of U.S. foreign policy to an entirely new level. But it is precisely those who would lead us into battle with "hostile states" who threaten a liberal world order, because they look to a competition that is to be settled through dominance rather than reciprocity. Formed by ideology, greatly fortified by special interests, the U.S. posture has put it into standing collision with other great powers. The flaws of the U.S.-led world order-a chronic overreliance on force, habitual violations of the rules governing intervention-should not be attributed to liberalism but to a flock of "neo-isms" parading in its name. In searching for a remedy, we must find it by rediscovering, not repudiating, the liberal tradition. Hendrickson offers a panoramic view of America's choices in foreign policy, analyzing the vested interests and ideologies that have justified a sprawling global empire over the last 25 years. Hendrickson recovers the tradition of liberal pluralism, one that sees in nonintervention, the balance of power, and great power concert the formula for a durable peace. Rather than claiming a superior role as judge, jury, and executioner, the United States must share power in accordance with the Golden Rule. It needs restraint rather than braggadocio, acceptance of its role as a nation among the nations rather than arrogant pretensions regarding its exceptional virtue and superior wisdom. Ranging widely, from the classics of American political thought and international theory to the bewildering thicket of hot wars and regional feuds across the globe that embroil America, Hendrickson forcefully shows that the militarization of U.S. foreign policy is deeply at odds with the animating purposes and principles of the American experiment.

Beyond Consensus

Beyond Consensus
Author: Richard D. Margerum
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2011-08-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0262297728

An examination of how to move from consensus to implementation using collaborative approaches to natural resource management, urban planning, and environmental policy. Collaborative approaches are increasingly common across a range of governance and policy areas. Single-issue, single-organization solutions often prove ineffective for complex, contentious, and diffuse problems. Collaborative efforts allow cross-jurisdictional governance and policy, involving groups that may operate on different decision-making levels. In Beyond Consensus, Richard Margerum examines the full range of collaborative enterprises in natural resource management, urban planning, and environmental policy. He explains the pros and cons of collaborative approaches, develops methods to test their effectiveness, and identifies ways to improve their implementation and results. Drawing on extensive case studies of collaborations in the United States and Australia, Margerum shows that collaboration is not just about developing a strategy but also about creating and sustaining arrangements that can support collaborative implementation. Margerum outlines a typology of collaborative efforts and a typology of networks to support implementation. He uses these typologies to explain the factors that are likely to make collaborations successful and examines the implications for participants. The rich case studies in Beyond Consensus—which range from watershed management to transportation planning, and include both successes and failures—offer lessons in collaboration that make the book ideal for classroom use. It is also designed to help practitioners evaluate and improve collaborative efforts at any phase. The book's theoretical framework provides scholars with a means to assess the effectiveness of collaborations and explain their ability to achieve results.

American Empire and the Canadian Oil Sands

American Empire and the Canadian Oil Sands
Author: George A. Gonzalez
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2016-04-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137539569

Throughout the US oil and gas shale are being 'hydrofracked' to produce petroleum and natural gas. Oil (or tar) sands from Canada is being 'processed' – thereby generating large amounts of crude. This book places the unconventional fossil fuels revolution that is taking place in North America within the context of great power politics.