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"The key is in our hands:" Soviet energy strategy during Détente and the global oil crises of the 1970s
"Der Schlüssel liegt in unseren Händen": Die sowjetische Energiestrategie während der Détente und der globalen Ölkrisen der 1970er Jahre
[journal article]
Abstract
This essay traces the rise of the Soviet Union as Europe’s key energy supplier during the 1970s and early 1980s. While détente and the global energy crises proved to be accelerating factors in fostering East-West economic cooperation, it was ultimately the USSR’s own impeding “energy crisis” that p... view more
This essay traces the rise of the Soviet Union as Europe’s key energy supplier during the 1970s and early 1980s. While détente and the global energy crises proved to be accelerating factors in fostering East-West economic cooperation, it was ultimately the USSR’s own impeding “energy crisis” that prompted Soviet leaders to seek closer relations with the West. If the Soviet Union wanted to meet the growing energy demand at home, maintain export volumes to its Communist allies in Eastern Europe, and boost its role as an international energy player, it needed to counter fast-declining production and engage in the development of new energy frontiers, namely in the resource-rich northern part of Western Siberia. Concerns over the threat of superpower confrontation were major motivations for the Soviet leadership to embark on the path of détente beginning in the late 1960s. However, as this essay argues, rapprochement with the West was also driven and sustained by an understanding on the part of the Moscow leadership that it needed Western technological assistance and credits.... view less
Keywords
crude oil; energy supply; economic cooperation; East-West relations; natural gas; crisis; cold war; energy policy; economic policy; detente; energy production; Siberia; USSR; economic relations
Classification
Special areas of Departmental Policy
General History
International Relations, International Politics, Foreign Affairs, Development Policy
Document language
English
Publication Year
2014
Page/Pages
p. 113-144
Journal
Historical Social Research, 39 (2014) 4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.39.2014.4.113-144
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed