Adam Hanieh lecture on capitalism and the oil industry

Adam Hanieh, Professor of Political Economy and Global Development at the University of Exeter, delivered the first Margaret Anstee Centre lecture of Lent Term with an overview of the theory behind his new book, Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market. He was joined by Helen Bao, Newnham Fellow and Professor of Urban Economics and Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, who presented her response to his lecture before opening discussion to the floor.

 

Professor Hanieh's research focuses on the oil industry and its development and impact on global markets and politics since the mid-20th Century. In his lecture he demonstrated the close relationship between the control and ownership of oil (and its products) and global power dynamics. He highlighted that control over oil is not limited to the deposits, refineries and petrol stations (upstream uses), but also in the use of oil in the petrochemical industry and manufacturing (downstream uses) and the fact that we are surrounded in modern life by products derived from this industry.

 

Prof Hanieh's work takes a historical perspective looking at oil in relation to shifts in global powers, in particular the rise of the US as the dominant global power in the 20th Century, but also the impact of oil in key events in Russia and the Soviet Union i.e. the 1917 revolution, collapse of the Soviet Union and rise of Putin's regime. He also studies the importance of oil in the Gulf states and the relationship between private companies and state actors.

 

The lecture focused on three areas that are central to Prof Hanieh's work. Firstly, the importance of the oil industry in all aspects of our lives and how this has grown since the 1950s and continues to grow, he calls this the "synthetic world". Secondly, he talked about the rise of national oil companies (NOCs), either owned by the state or with very close links to government or ruling families, for example Saudi Aramco. Prof Hanieh's third point centred around the implications of this for global politics and in particular on climate policy. NOCs have vast influence and a seat at the table when it comes to environmental and economic policy-making and the consequence is that oil remains at the heart of energy policy, with renewable energy only as an addition, but not a replacement.

 

Prof Hanieh talked about issues such as fast fashion and its reliance on polyester and the environmental, social and economic impacts of this industry. He spoke about the attempt to build a Global Plastics Treaty in 2024 and how this failed as companies insisted the issue was with pollution not production. He focused on the influence of China and other Eastern consumers of oil including Japan and South Korea in driving demand for oil from the Gulf, and demonstrated the East-East axis in this relationship.

 

Prof Bao responded to the lecture outlining the key themes of global production and power dynamics, with oil as a driver of capitalism, impacting on power, finance and climate-policy and the role of corporate influence. The discussion was then opened to the floor and an engaging conversation was held.

 

MAC Director, Dr Mezna Qato thanked Prof Hanieh and Prof Bao for their insightful contributions. Prof Hanieh's book is available from all good book sellers: Crude Capitalism.

 

You can watch a recording of Adam's lecture here.