Objective
This project rethinks British imperialism in the early twentieth century Middle East. It places oil — its exploration, extraction, and the geopolitical implications of this — at the centre of analysis. This period witnessed a major energy transition, the shift from coal to oil, and the dawn of a new energy regime in the world. Oil products became increasingly essential for military-industrial transformation. Access to oilfields became imperative for European imperial states and this desire for oil concessions made the Middle East a new object of interventionism and a new site of imperial competitions. This project argues that British state and business interests were at the forefront of this new coercive interventionism in the Middle East which I term “oil imperialism”: how oil competition fostered new bids for domination over space and people in the region. For Britain, these dynamics amounted to a new experience of empire, with a rising generation of imperialists identifying oil companies as their best agents for a revised and profitable form of “informal” empire, and seeing the Middle East as vast untapped realm for exploitation, notably of mineral resources, and with petroleum products in the vanguard. British “oil imperialism” had unprecedented social, spatial and environmental consequences. It shaped Middle East borders, created new labour forces, transformed landscapes, polluted sensitive environments and enforced the settlement of nomadic tribes. Horizon 2020 lists “Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials” among societal challenges that are major concerns for citizens in Europe. By understanding the genesis and early history of Europe’s quest for oil in the Middle East, this project will deepen scholarly knowledge regarding the relationship between energy, geopolitics and history. More specifically, his project highlights the postcolonial legacies of a century of European oil imperialism in the Middle East.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels fossil energy coal
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels fossil energy petroleum
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2017
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
CV4 8UW COVENTRY
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.