It's all about oil....

Yes sadly my dissertation is.....all about oil. Currently on the back burner, but still in my thoughts, and tying in nicely with the US fp course. The research focus is the Shah of Iran, the 1973 oil crisis and US foreign policy under Kissinger and Nixon at that time. In December 1973, the Shah decided to increase oil prices by 400%, following the oil embargo during the October war between the Arabs and Israel. The result was an economic downturn in Western Europe, parts of Asia and the United States. Given that the Shah was one of the US' staunch allies in the region, why did he instigate such an increase?

Here lies the debate. The Shah's one time prime minister, and court confidante Amir Asadollah Alam, attributes it to re-assertion of Persian prestige and regional influence; Secretary of State Henry Kissinger places the Shah's ego as a key motivation; then mixed into these positions is William Engdahl's view that price rises were secretly conspired by Western elites (including Kissinger) on a Swedish island in May 1973. The histiorography is equally contraversial and compelling.

On top these diverse views, I will be considering US foreign policy at the time. The importance of Iran as a client state: as a bulwark against the Soviet Union and regional policeman. The advent of the Nixon doctrine; pursuit of Detente; outbreak of the Yom Kippur war; British de-colonisation in the Gulf also shaped the historical context for this economic shockwave.

So to summarise: What context drove this decision? What motivation defined this decision? And what impact did this decision have on Iran-US relations?