Pipeline Politics: The Complex Political Economy of East-West Energy
In the 1960s and again in the 1980s, the United States had serious disputes with its West European allies about helping the U.S.S.R. produce and export oil and gas. One of the strongest features of this book is its clear and quite detailed narration of both episodes, and of the longer story of American efforts since 1947 to exert economic pressure on the U.S.S.R. (except for a false start toward offering economic inducements in the early 1970s). Jentleson's analytical framework for explaining why these policies rarely had much success works quite well. Although the book will not alter the conclusions on which most close observers have agreed for some time, it is valuable to have this much material between two covers.
Sign-up for free weekly updates from ForeignAffairs.com.