Peter Remenyi

In modern geopolitics economic warfare has become more and more significant. This paper examines a special segment of economic warfare: can oil price be manipulated and serve as an effective geopolitical (or geoeconomic) weapon, and if that is the case, under what conditions? This article demonstrates that the United States and its allies (mainly Saudi Arabia)—when certain economic, technological, and political conditions are fulfilled—may be able to achieve a considerable and lasting decline in oil prices to restrain the military/geopolitical activities of the Soviet Union/Russia that are deemed overly excessive. This paper analyses the relationship between the oil market and geopolitics in the last decade of the Cold War, when the oil price fell sharply contributing to the collapse of the Soviet economic and political system. Research results may prove useful in forming the geopolitical/geoeconomic strategy of superpowers, and it may be applied to forecast oil price fluctuations too.