On November 15, Emma Ashford authored a review of two books, Rosemary A. Kelanic’s Black Gold and Blackmail: Oil and Great Power Politics and Emily Meierding’s The Oil Wars Myth: Petroleum and the Causes of International Conflict, in H-Diplo. Using the books, Ashford probes the question of why the United States going from an energy importer to an energy producer has not led to a substantive change in US foreign policy.
“As we enter a period of growing multipolarity, and with policymakers increasingly vocal about the challenge of great power competition with China, the fixation of American national security experts on continuing to protect Middle Eastern oil seems increasingly out-of-touch with reality.”
More about our expert
