A postcolonial approach to Anglo-American oil policies towards the Gulf region

This thesis examines the British colonial and American postcolonial oil policies towards the Gulf region through the parameters of political order, concession system, national security and interests, formulated foreign policies, and perceived regional and global threats and rivalries. The economic value and strategic importance of oil prompted the British to associate the Gulf oil with their national security concerns and economic interests. In this context, the imperial oil policy was formulated to control oil territories, exclude rival colonial powers, and eliminate threats by all means at disposal. Therefore, the British colonial oil order in the Gulf region was based on unequal concession terms, non-competitive oil market structure, and secret agreements between Anglo-American oil companies and governments. However, the British colonial order was challenged first by political and later by economic decolonization movements. The rising oil awareness that claimed sovereignty over the national oil resources developed in parallel with the growing strategic importance and economic value of petroleum. The Arab use of oil as a weapon at that time further accelerated the process of oil decolonization in the region. Meanwhile, the United States restructured the oil order in the Gulf in the context of both the Cold War and persistent demands for decolonization. Unlike the Whitehall, which exploited the Gulf oil at the top of the oil wells, the White House maintained the exploitation on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In this thesis, qualitative, theory testing (comparative) multiple-case research method is used. The thesis argues that both British colonial and American postcolonial governments associated the Gulf oil to their national security concerns, used oil knowledge/technology as bargaining power, and resorted to all means to protect, maintain and control the oil resources of the region.