Oil-rich states are core players in the international system. They are more likely to start wars, and their wealth props up the global arms trade, provides diplomatic leverage, and allows them to support violent and nonviolent proxies.

Yet not all petrostates have the same characteristics or capabilities. Some are oil-dependent (weakened by the resource curse), others are oil-wealthy (made rich by oil exports), and still others are super-producers (forming the backbone of the global oil market). Experts have too often treated oil-rich states as passive objects, subject to the energy security needs of Western importing states.

Join the Center for Security Studies for a conversation about the agency and power enjoyed by petrostates with Emma Ashford, author of the new book Oil, the State, and War: The Foreign Policies of Petrostates.