ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the interplay between the energy crisis, the Arab-Israel dispute, and the industrial states after the outbreak of the Arab-Israel war on 6 October 1973. It considers primary aspects of the evolving patterns of international political economy, as influenced by the energy crisis or its linkage to the Arab-Israel dispute. For analytical purposes, the energy crisis and the Arab-Israel dispute have been decoupled, and the papers about each have been grouped together, so as to give the reader insight into the national responses and the changing national perspectives among the industrial states. The crisis derived from the panicked response of the political leaders in the industrial states to the Arab use of the oil weapon and the inferences drawn from the manipulation of the oil industry for political ends having little or nothing to do with oil economics.
