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.
Reviews
"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."—Michael L. Ross, author of The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations
"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."—Emily Meierding, author of The Oil Wars Myth: Petroleum and the Causes of International Conflict
"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."—Caitlin Talmadge, associate professor of security studies, The Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
"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."—Joshua Rovner, associate professor, School of International Service, American University
"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
"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
"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
"Ashford is one of the more distinctive voices in the rethinking US foreign policy space....Her book confirms it. All three reviewers agree that it is terrific, and, I can add, great to teach."—H-Diplo
"[T]he field is also a crowded one, but one to which Emma Ashford's recent contribution, Oil, the State and War, is a most valuable and, on the whole, novel addition.The case study chapters exploring and explaining the pathways from oil production and exportation to foreign policy are empirically rich and insightful[...]"—H-Diplo
"Ashford's book is frequently an exercise in myth-busting: she applies rigorous analysis to some of the most pervasive and widely held ideas surrounding oil and oil-states, and draws conclusions that are...often compelling and thought provoking."—H-Diplo
"[A]shford's new book...pulls off an impressive balancing act: it advances the scholarly literature on the international politics of oil while remaining relevant and accessible to both policy and general audiences....With remarkably clear prose, Ashford delivers the intellectual rigor prized by academia while remaining firmly focused on why her findings matter to the wider world. Everyone can read this book and learn from it."—H-Diplo
