The Political Economy of US Wars of Choice: Are They Really Oil Wars?

This study challenges and documents a case against the dominant view that post-Cold War U.S. military adventures in the Middle East, especially the recent invasion of Iraq, have been prompted mainly by oil considerations. The study suggests that although oil is indubitably a concern, and that the United States has used military force in the past for energy purposes, these precedents fail to explain the current military operations in the region. There is strong evidence that major oil companies no longer favor war in the Middle East, because they prefer stability and predictability to periodic spikes in the oil price that result from war and political convulsion. There is also strong evidence that the powerful interests vested in war and militarism might be utilizing oil as a pretext to justify military adventures in order to derive higher dividends from the business of war.

Published in: Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, Volume 8, Numbers 2-3, 2009, Pages 295-314
Available from: IngentaConnect