Oil, the State, and War: The Foreign Policies of Petrostates

by Emma Ashford

Overview

A comprehensive challenge to prevailing understanding of international implications of oil wealth that shows why it can create bad actors

In a world where oil-rich states are more likely to start war than their oil-dependent counterparts, it’s surprising how little attention is still paid to these so-called petrostates. These states’ wealth props up the global arms trade, provides diplomatic leverage, and allows them to support violent and nonviolent proxies. In Oil, the State, and War, Emma Ashford explores the many potential links between domestic oil production and foreign policy behavior and how oil production influences global politics.

Not all petrostates have the same characteristics or capabilities. To help us conceptualize these differences, Ashford creates an original classification of three types of petrostates: oil-dependent states (those weakened by the resource curse), oil-wealthy states (those made rich by oil exports), and super-producer states (those that form the backbone of the global oil market). Through a combination of case studies and analysis, she illustrates how oil shapes petrostates’ behavior, filling a major gap in our understanding of the international implications of oil wealth. Experts have too often treated oil-rich states as passive objects, subject to the energy security needs of Western importing states. Instead, this book highlights the agency and power enjoyed by petrostates.

As the oil market undergoes a period of rapid change, Oil, the State, and War sheds light on the diversity of petrostates and how they shape international affairs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647122379
Publisher:	Georgetown University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2022
Pages:	365
Sales rank:	523,317
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Emma Ashford is a senior fellow in the New American Engagement Initiative at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council and a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point. Her work focuses on questions of grand strategy, international security, and the future of US foreign policy. Ashford is a regular columnist for Foreign Policy, and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

1. Petrostates: A Typology

2. Applying the Typology: Petrostates at War

3. Resource Arms Racing: Oil Wealth and Military Power

4. Petroleum Proxies and Oil Altruism: The Light and Dark of Oil Wealth

5. Institutions, Intelligence, and Personalization: The Resource Curse and Foreign Policy

6. Crude Power: The Oil Weapon in Practice

7. Under the Umbrella: Soft Oil Power and Hegemonic Protection

8. Facing the Future: Peak Petrostate?

Appendixes

A. Methods and Measurements

B. Oil and Conflict

C. Military Spending and Arms Sales

D. Soft Power, Sanctions, and Oil

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

What People are Saying About This

Michael L. Ross

Oil-exporting countries play an outsized role on the world stage. But analysts often misunderstand their importance, or fail to notice how much they differ from one another. Emma Ashford’s new book is a deep and valuable analysis of the surprising and even contradictory ways that oil wealth tends to shape a country’s foreign policy.

Joshua Rovner

Oil has been central to US foreign policy for decades, but much of the conventional wisdom about oil is wrong. In this lucid and provocative book, Emma Ashford shows that oil wars are rare, oil supplies are secure, and the 'oil weapon' is largely useless. Oil does have a strong influence on petrostates, to be sure, just not in the ways that we have imagined. Scholars and policymakers will learn much from this account.

Emily Meierding

By exploring the many ways in which oil production influences foreign policy, Emma Ashford broadens our understanding of petrostates and the roles they play in international politics. Oil, the State, and War is an agenda-setting book.

Caitlin Talmadge

In this superb book, Ashford delivers a clear, systematic account of the distinct foreign policy characteristics of different types of oil-rich states. Her thoughtful, carefully researched analysis is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the critical role of oil in global politics.

Editorial Reviews

The author provides a valuable contribution on the role that domestic oil production can play in the development and execution of foreign policy.

International Affairs

The book is written with clear prose and an avoidance of excessive jargon that will make it appealing to policymakers, college students, and general audiences, but also includes research and findings that will be of interest to academics and specialists.

History: Reviews of New Books

Oil, the State, and War is a book that helps understand the times we live in. It will be a great addition to the library of both the general reader interested in global affairs and the political scientist. Ashford’s book combines, in a difficult feat, expertise with an accessible style.

The New Arab

...Oil, the State, and War: The Foreign Policies of Petrostates is a seminal study that will have special value for students, academia, governmental policy makers, peace activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject.

Midwest Book Review