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The Petroleum Triangle: Oil, Globalization, and Terror

Online ISBN:
9780801463396
Print ISBN:
9780801450020
Publisher:
Cornell University Press
Book

The Petroleum Triangle: Oil, Globalization, and Terror

Steve A. Yetiv
Steve A. Yetiv
Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Old Dominion University
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Published:
22 September 2011
Online ISBN:
9780801463396
Print ISBN:
9780801450020
Publisher:
Cornell University Press

Abstract

This book tells the interconnected story of oil, globalization, and terrorism. It asks how Al-Qaeda, a small band of terrorists, became such a real and perceived threat to American and global security, a threat viewed as profound enough to motivate the strongest power in world history to undertake extraordinary actions, including two very costly wars. The book argues that Middle East oil and globalization have combined to augment the real and perceived threat of transnational terrorism. Globalization has allowed terrorists to do things that otherwise would be more difficult and costly: exploit technology, generate fear beyond their capabilities, target vulnerable economic and political nodes, and capitalize on socio-economic dislocation. Meanwhile, Middle East oil has fueled terrorism by helping to bolster oil-rich regimes that terrorists hate, to fund the terrorist infrastructure, and to generate anti-American and anti-Western sentiments about American support for oil-rich regimes and perceived Western designs on Middle East oil. Together, Middle East oil and globalization have combined in various ways to help create Al-Qaeda's real and perceived threat, and that of its affiliates and offshoots. The book convincingly argues that it is critical to understand the connections among oil, globalization, and terrorism if we seek to comprehend modern global politics.

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