• How far does America’s lifestyle drive its foreign policy on the Middle East and Islamic world?
• Highly relevant in the aftermath of the Iraq War, which many think was launched for economic reasons
• Very provocative analysis from a leading industry expert
It has long been acknowledged that in America the car is king. However, America’s car- orientated and car-dependent lifestyle goes beyond the culture of fast cars and freeways. In Addicted to Oil, Ian Rutledge explores the political, economic and social ramifications of the motorisation of the US economy. He argues that America’s dependence on the car has created a lifestyle leading to oil needs which have heavily influenced US foreign policy in the modern era.
Rutledge traces the origins of America’s addiction throughout the twentieth century and explains how America’s relations with the Middle East were developed through its quest for energy security. America’s motorisation and its consequent demand for oil at predictable market prices was and continues to be an important influence on US policy towards Iraq — especially given the uncertainties relating to what has so far been the securest source of Middle East oil — Saudi Arabia. Ian Rutledge argues that the war in Iraq was neither a war for ‘freedom’ or ‘democracy’ nor was it a plot to ‘steal Iraq’s oil’, but rather an attempt to establish a pliant and dependable oil protectorate in the Middle East which would underwrite the soaring demand from America’s hyper-motorised consumers.
Addicted to Oil is the first book to undertake an in-depth analysis of the motorisation of
US society which explicitly links it to America’s foreign policy adventures, past and present.
Addicted to Oil is essential reading for an understanding of America’s international political
priorities and its fraught relations with the Middle East.
Ian Rutledge is an energy economist and an energy business consultant. He has also lectured at Sheffield University and has published widely on world oil and gas markets, petroleum taxation and oil and gas company corporate strategy.
PuBLIcATIoN: MARCH 31ST 2005 For more information contact:
PRICE: £19.95 HARDBACK Benjamin Usher, Publicist
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