Counter-Shock. The Oil Counter-Revolution of the 1980s

The oil price collapse of 1985–6 had momentous consequences globally: in terms of prevailing energy paradigms, the non-fossil fuel alternatives simply turned uncompetitive while huge new markets opened up for fossil fuels, particularly in China and India. In international relations, the previous talk of an OPEC ‘imperium’ was turned upside-down. Compared to the much-debated 1973 ‘oil shock’, the ‘counter-shock’ has not received the same degree of attention. This volume is the first to put the oil price ‘counter-shock’ of the mid-1980s into historical perspective. Featuring some of the most knowledgeable experts in the field, Counter-Shock offers a balanced approach between the global picture and local study cases. In particular, it highlights the crucial interaction between the oil counter-shock and the political ‘counter-revolution’ against state intrusion in economic management, put forward by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the same period.