Partial Hegemony: Oil Politics and International Order

by Jeff D Colgan

The global history of oil politics, from World War I to the present, can teach us much about world politics, climate change, and international order in the twenty-first century.

When and why does international order change? The largest peaceful transfer of wealth across borders in all of human history began with the oil crisis of 1973. OPEC countries turned the tables on the most powerful businesses on the planet, quadrupling the price of oil and shifting the global distribution of profits. It represented a huge shift in international order. Yet, the textbook explanation for how world politics works-that the most powerful country sets up and sustains the rules of international order after winning a major war-doesn't fit these events, or plenty of others. Instead of thinking of "the" international order as a single thing, Jeff Colgan explains how it operates in parts, and often changes in peacetime. Partial Hegemony offers lessons for leaders and analysts seeking to design new international governing arrangements to manage an array of pressing concerns ranging from US-China rivalry to climate change, and from nuclear proliferation to peacekeeping. A major
contribution to international relations theory, this book promises to reshape our understanding of the forces driving change in world politics.

Genres: International Relations, Nonfiction

300 pages, Hardcover

Published September 14, 2021

Reviews

[Mahamid Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

An original contribution to the international political economy of oil, both empirically and theoretically.

First, Colgan lucidly breaks down international order into subsystems and its links with themes, building heuristic bridges between liberalism, realism and contructivism. This allows the author to analyse the development and sustenance of governing arrangements in the context of the oil industry.

Secondly, defining governing arrangements as not standalone institutions or regimes, but questions around a particular theme provides a compelling basis for analysing oil politics:

- The distinction betwen "oil production" and "oil security" is revealing in that the governing arrangements for both subsystems vary over time, with little change in oil security and much in oil production over the last century.

- The relative effectiveness of OPEC, the Seven Sisters and their governments in sustaining particular governing arrangements for oil is also a valuable insight.

Thirdly, the conceptual framework around strategic benefits and punishments for noncompliance is a useful framework from which to analyse the effectiveness of oil governance in various eras.

Finally, the book offers solutions and a basis for thinking when policymakers and governments are developing governing arrangements to tackle climate change, albeit the author admits that this area is complex and new. The paradoxical role of the WTO in cutting GHG emissions and increasing trade is one case in point. It is also refreshing to understand that whilst carbon border adjustments and the creation of "climate clubs" are presented as potential solutions, the complications around achieving these without consequences are also noted - i.e. allignment between US, EU and China whilst also offering strategic benefits to developing countries when they can just develop their own markets through emerging market trade.

A must read for those interested in the international relations, international political economy, oil politics and the governance of the global energy transition.

[Mariam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative read, but in chapter 5, he discusses the bloodless coup against Sheikh Shakhbout in 1966, and he describes Sheikh Shakhbout as a “xenophobic and averse to spending the territory’s oil revenues”. While the latter is true, I can’t help but comment on the the use of the adjective xenophobic.

Not surprised to find a white person call someone xenophobic just because they dislike the people colonizing their lands.