Störfall für die gute Nachbarschaft?

The Oil Crisis of 1973 is considered a watershed event in the 1970’s. It clearly showed the Western Industrial Nations dependency on and addiction to Arabian oil supply. Against the backdrop of the Franco-German relationship, the author investigates on the one hand the existence and embodiment of bilateral cooperation and takes a closer look at the behavioural patterns and political strategies of the Governments of France and Western Germany. On the other hand, she examines the various multilateral approaches to addressing the Crisis. Case studies give insights on the level of involvement of Civil Society.Based on recently released archival sources, this is the first systematic analysis of Franco-German relations concerning energy policy in the 1970’s. The author examines the effect of energy policy on bilateral relations. Despite the concept for the Franco-German cooperation, the two countries had quite different approaches on energy policy.