Decolonisation movements sought to win sovereignty and control over national resources, especially oil. Professor Adam Hanieh's lecture explores oil’s influence on national independence struggles, from the 1955 Bandung Conference to the rise of OPEC and the nationalisation of crude reserves. It examines how these shifts reshaped global power, exposing both the successes and limits of decolonisation, and their contemporary relevance in understanding the roots of today’s climate crisis.

Adam Hanieh is Professor of Political Economy and Global Development at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter (UK). He is also a Research Fellow at the Transnational Institute and held a Political Economy Fellowship from the Independent Social Research Foundation in 2023, which traced the new geographical linkages between the oil-producing states of the Middle East and China/East Asia. Hanieh is the author of four books, including Money, Markets, and Monarchies (Cambridge University Press, 2018), which won the 2019 British International Studies Association International Political Economy Group Book Prize. His most recent book Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market came out with Verso Books in 2024.

This lecture series explores aspects of the global processes of decolonisation, from the earliest European colonial expansions to the political and economic upheavals of the 20th century. We will examine the colonisation of Newfoundland, plus the economic consequences of decolonisation in the 20th century, considering how former colonies navigated independence, economic restructuring, and global trade. We would like to thank Gresham College for their partnership in developing and hosting this series.