The 1973 Oil Crisis and Energy Policy Development: A Comparative Literature Review of U.S. and Western European Policy Shifts, 1973-1980

The Oil crisis of 1973 has often been deemed as a defining moment in international politics. In the literature, however, its causes and consequences are often subject to debate. Moreover, in many instances the literature about the subject has proven to be imprecise. As such, the aim of this review thesis is to provide a comparative guide of the most authoritative sources about the crisis and its consequences in the field of energy policy development in the United States and Western Europe. The core of this work is divided in three chapters. In the first chapter, a review of the literature about the post-World War Two petroleum order is presented, along with a review of the most authoritative sources about OPEC and OAPEC, and of the causes and dynamics of the crisis. In the second chapter the importance of oil in international politics is addressed, covering its importance for the importing and producer countries because of its material characteristics and its value as a necessity, its use for economic development and its possible use for coercion; in the last part of the chapter, a review of scholarly works about the use of oil in the crisis along with its effectiveness is discussed. In the third chapter, the scholarly portrayals of responses to the crisis by the United States and Western Europe are addressed. First, international cooperation among Western nations is addressed, and then, initiatives of energy independence and diversification by the United States and Western Europe are examined. The methodology consists of a qualitative analysis of historiographic academic sources, with the aim of examining core arguments, points of convergence and points of divergence in the literature.