After the Second World War in 1945, a new world order came up: Western Europe had to recover from the damages the war caused, and the US and the Soviet Union were competing against each other for power in a Cold War period. During this era, lasting up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the Middle East began to become a very unstable region due to the creation of the Israeli state in 1948. A traditional definition of the ‘Middle East area' would include sixteen countries from Iran to Egypt. This core region has been the biggest world oil holder for decades. In this context, it is not surprising to see that the Middle East became, during the Cold War, the theater of western interventions concerning oil. Indeed, the oil issue became a key and strategic argument, related to the new framework of the international relations.
[...] Wheeler and A. J. Bellamy chapter on Humanitarian Intervention in John Baylis and Steve Smith, The Globalization of World Politics: An introduction to International relations, 2nd Ed., Oxford University Press p 273 Source : Joe Stork, Middle East Oil and the Energy Crisis, New York and London, Monthly Review Press Source : Simon Bromley, American Hegemony and World Oil, Cambridge, Polity Press ; and BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2004, London, BP Source : Charles Issawi, The Economic History [...]
[...] During the Cold War, the Middle East's oil became a major stake for Western countries, especially for the USA. Many reasons can explain why they decided to intervene: the dependence on oil energy, the need to stabilize the area to prevent the spread of communist influence, and at last the US's willingness to dominate the rest of the world by controlling the oil resources. First, during the Cold War, oil was obviously a necessary resource for the European countries and the US. [...]
[...] Nevertheless, western desire to dominate the Middle East area provoked troubles all through the Cold War period: the political destabilisation of the region, and the birth of an anti-western feeling. Consequently, many oil crises occurred at this time. The oil weapon embodied the rivalries between the Middle East and the West. First, the struggle between the western and the Middle East countries to decide who should have controlled the oil production began straight after the World War II: this was the nationalization process. [...]
[...] As a result, the Iraq Petroleum pipeline was sabotaged and Europe had to suffer from a quick Middle East's oil shortage. Beyond the defeat, this crisis showed the decline of French and British influence over the Middle East, in aid of the US. Secondly, the oil weapon was a very efficient mean for the Middle East to pressure the US and its allies. The two oil crashes in 1973 and 1979 were the climaxes of this confrontation. In October 1973, the Kippur war began. [...]
[...] As a conclusion, the oil in Middle East was a really complex stake during the Cold War. The international relation framework was constantly moving as western countries were willing to preserve their interests. The oil crises and the wars have shaken the world order and the global economy. Though, has there been any change since this period? I do not think so. Indeed, today still the relationship between the Middle East and western countries is unclear. Then, as we have seen with the Iraq war engaged by the US in 2003, much instability remains, and oil is still a key factor. [...]
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