Completing decolonization: The 1973 'oil shock' and the struggle for economic rights

The story of the "oil shock" is normally linked to that of the Arab-Israeli conflict in October 1973. The purpose of this article is to trace the origins of the oil crisis well before the beginning of the Yom Kippur war, describing it as the final outcome of the ongoing common struggle by developing countries to gain control over natural resources, develop their national economy and reform the international economic institutions created at Bretton Woods.