Global oil and the nation state

This work deals with governance structures in oil: the long-term relationship between the natural resource owners (private or public), investors, and consumers.

It thus focuses on the political and institutional dimensions of the economy which economists, and most notably those specialising in energy, have neglected.

Two parts deal with private and public mineral governance, illustrated by relevant case studies.

The examples of private governance are British coal, American and Mexican oil. The first case is historically the most important case of private mineral governance outside the United States.

Comparing British coal and American oil reveals the political circumstances that explain the collapse of this structure in the former case and its survival in the latter.

Comparing both with Mexican oil brings in the international political dimension.

It also finds surprising parallels between the collapse of private mineral governance in conservative Britain and revolutionary Mexico.