Ian Rutledge is a British economist, historian and Arabist whose work concentrates on imperialism, energy policy and the modern history of the Middle East and North Africa. He earned his undergraduate degree and doctorate in economic history at the University of Cambridge and has taught at the universities of London and Sheffield and for the Workers’ Educational Association. His academic background in political economy and his long study of Arabic inform his examination of the connections between oil, foreign policy and Western intervention in the Islamic world.
Rutledge’s books include Addicted to Oil: America’s Relentless Drive for Energy Security, which examines how American dependence on petroleum has shaped its foreign policy, and Enemy on the Euphrates, an account of the British occupation of Iraq and the Iraqi Revolt of 1920. His later work, Sea of Troubles, traces the European conquest of Ottoman territories in the Mediterranean and relates imperial competition in North Africa and the Levant to the origins of the First World War. His writing combines economic analysis, military history and extensive primary research to explore the long-term consequences of colonial power in the Middle East.
