The “Years of Possibility”. The 1970s, the Oil Crises and the Struggle for a New International Economic Order’
- Time
- 4pm - 5pm
- Date
- 24 Sep 2026
- Duration
- 1 hour(s)
- Language
- English
- Presenters
Dr Jonas Kreienbaum, School of History UCC
- Cost
- Free
- Registration Required
- No
- Organising Department
History Research Seminar Series (papers)
School of History
For further information contact Dr Jérôme aan de Wiel, School of History, UCC: j.aandewiel@ucc.ie
While the 1970s are generally interpreted as a decade of crisis in Western industrialised nations, they can be described more as a decade of opportunity when viewed from the perspective of the postcolonial world. In particular, the oil crises of 1973–74 and 1979–80—during which OPEC succeeded in multiplying the price of oil—appeared to signal a new power of the ‘Third World’. Postcolonial elites hoped that this could now be used to create a New International Economic Order (NIEO) that would offer the countries of the Global South better conditions for trade and development. In their view, this presented an opportunity to follow political decolonisation with economic decolonisation.