Kooperation in der Krise? Die Ölkrise von 1973/74 und die multilaterale Zusammenarbeit der westlichen Industrieländer in der Energiepolitik

Historical research has perceived the 1970s as a period of crisis for economic coop­eration of the Western industrialized countries. The article tries to evaluate whether this is also true for energy policy during and after the oil crisis of 1973/74. With a focus on the negotiations of the OECD the article shows that the oil crisis indeed marked a low point of Western multilateral cooperation but that it also functioned as a catalyst for closer collaboration in the future. Finally, the experience of the oil crisis enabled the founding of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in November 1974. This new organization successfully stimulated the transformation of the Western en­ergy supply with the aim of reducing dependency on Middle Eastern oil. Therefore the energy political cooperation of the Western industrialized countries in the 1970s has to be interpreted rather in the framework of the North-South conflict than in the context of the East-West conflict.