Oil and Security Policies

In Oil and security: Saudi Arabia 1950-2012 Islam Y. Qasem explains how the world’s largest oil producer and exporter, Saudi Arabia, used oil resources to maximize internal and external security since the mid-twentieth century.

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With one quarter of proven oil reserves and the largest oil production in the world, Saudi Arabia has been at the center of world politics. Its vast oil resources have been utilized in various ways to maximize internal and external security. While oil revenue allowed the Saudi state to buy off legitimacy at home and abroad, the Saudi state exploited oil supply to either forge alliances with or pressure consuming and producing countries. By providing an insightful account of how oil resources shaped Saudi security policies since the mid-twentieth century, Islam Y. Qasem offers a timely contribution to the study of oil politics and the interrelationship between economic interdependence and security.