OPEC's Use of Oil as a Weapon Against the U.S.

The purpose of this study was to assess the probability that Middle East member countries of OPEC would use the oil weapon against the United States. The posited motivation for use of the oil weapon was dissatisfaction with the foreign policy of the United States toward Middle East countries and the treatment of people of Middle Eastern, non Jewish, heritage entering the United States subsequent to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the united States. The definition of use of the oil weapon was a curtailment of crude oil exports to the United States by Middle East member countries of OPEC.

The hypothesis investigated was that the Middle East member countries of OPEC will not use the oil weapon against the United States because the economic costs to Middle East OPEC member countries of such an action will outweigh the economic benefits accruing to those countries from such an action. The findings of the research performed supported the hypothesis, which then was, by inference, accepted.

Middle East oil-exporting nations used oil as a weapon against developed, oil-importing Western nations twice in the 1970s. The motivations underlying the cut-off of oil supplies to Western oil-importing nations were both economic and political in character. In an economic context, the oil-exporting nations sought to gain control over their petroleum resources from international oil companies and to gain a transfer of wealth from developed nations, oil-impo

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n life (Anderson, 1996). All other factors effectively addressed, the assumption is that everyone would favor obtaining energy from sources that were not environmentally harmful. The development of this situation is unlikely. Thus, energy-importing nations face difficult decisions involving tradeoffs in the selection of energy-sources. 3. Theoretical Framework The theory applied in this study was the international relations theory of realism. The theory is useful in this study because of its focus on the motivations and actions of all parties involved in international activities. The application of the theory of realism in this study allowed the assessment of probable behaviors of both the United States and oil suppliers that will affect the extent of success of the use of the oil weapon. Realism in international relations theory is an approach holding that the global political environment, although it may appear incoherent from the perspective of rationalists, is the product of human nature (Morgenthau 1992). The approach of realist thought, therefore, requires one to accept the world as one finds it, as opposed attempting to force actual circumstances into some preconceived model of human nature that will be rational to th

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