ABSTRACT
The Middle East experience surrounding the 1973 war tells a great deal about the changing nature of economic power—specifically that the effects of economic leverage in a world of complex and intertwined economic relationships among nations are by no means clear-cut issues. The application of economic leverage in the Middle East during the 1970s involved three intermingled sets of contentious and conflicted relationships: the Arabs versus Israel, the United States versus the Soviet Union, and the region's radicals versus its moderates. The depth of the New York and European financial markets and attractive investment opportunities provided strong incentives for oil producers to make investment decisions on economic rather than political grounds. The market strength of producers over time emboldened those who believed that oil could be an effective political instrument. The Iranian delegation then left the meeting; several Arab delegations that were not in the original Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries core group joined in for an essentially political discussion.
