French Car Culture and the Carter Doctrine

A unique combination of diplomatic history and the history of the transformations of French socio-economic structures in the post-1945 period, this book explores the expansion of US military power in the Persian Gulf by looking at the expansion of the US socio-economic model to Western Europe.

In January 1980, Jimmy Carter announced that henceforth, the US would consider threats to oil flows from the Persian Gulf as direct assaults on US interests, and would use military force to counteract such threats. American officials pressured European allies to contribute to this new military framework, arguing that it was for Europe that American forces would protect oil flows from the Gulf. European allies accepted this argument and provided military and political support for American policy in the Gulf. This book shows that France, generally considered a "reluctant ally" of the US, played a crucial role in helping the US build the military infrastructure of the Carter Doctrine. The core argument of this book is that this enthusiastic support was motivated by French oil demand, which was largely supplied from Persian Gulf sources. In turn, French oil demand was largely driven by the adoption of car culture, which occurred under the influence of US soft power and economic aid.