Rutledge, Ian

PERSONAL:

Education: University of Cambridge, graduated, 1968, Ph.D., 1973.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—idr@seris.co.uk; ian.rutledge@oiladdict.com.

CAREER:

University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England, teacher of energy economics, 1985-2003; taught both economics and sociology at the University of London; worked for British Coal Corporation; partner in Sheffield Energy & Resources Information Services (an energy economics consultancy and publishing business), 1989—.

MEMBER:

International Association for Energy Economics, British Institute for Energy Economics.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Appointed Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield School of Management, 2008.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Kenneth Duncan) Land and Labour in Latin America: Essays on the Development of Agrarian Capitalism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1977.

Cambio agrario e integración: el desarrollo del capitalismo en jujuy, 1550-1960, Proyecto ECIRA (Tilcara, Argentina), 1987.

Addicted to Oil: America's Relentless Drive for Energy Security, I.B. Tauris (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor of papers to academic journals, including Cambridge Journal of Economics, Energy Policy, Journal of Energy Literature, Manchester Papers on Development, Economia delle Fonti di Energia e dell' Ambiente, MedEnergie, and the International Journal of Global Energy Issues. Contributor of articles in national newspapers and professional and trade journals, including the Financial Times, Guardian, Financial Times Energy Economist, Financial Times International Coal Report, and Oxford Energy Forum.

Author's books have been translated into Arabic and Korean.

SIDELIGHTS:

Ian Rutledge is an expert in the field of energy economics, a subject he taught in the University of Sheffield master's level Energy Studies Program from 1985 to 2005. Rutledge obtained his undergraduate degree in economics and social science from the University of Cambridge in 1968, and went on to receive his Ph.D. in economic history in 1973. In addition to teaching, he spent three years working for the British Coal Corporation, and in 1989, together with a colleague, he established Sheffield Energy & Resources Information Services (SERIS), an energy economics consultancy and publishing business. Through SERIS, Rutledge has performed consultancy work in the United Kingdom, France, Cuba, Colombia, and Bolivia, and has participated in conferences in the United Kingdom, France, Holland, Colombia, Algeria, and Qatar. Over the past fifteen years, Rutledge has authored or served as editor for three books in the field of economic history (one of which published in Spanish): Land and Labour in Latin America: Essays on the Development of Agrarian Capitalism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, published in 1977; Cambio agrario e integración: el desarrollo del capitalismo en jujuy, 1550-1960, published in 1987; and Addicted to Oil: America's Relentless Drive for Energy Security, published in 2005. He also has contributed numerous papers to academic journals, including Cambridge Journal of Economics, Energy Policy, Journal of Energy Literature, Manchester Papers on Development, Economia delle Fonti di Energia e dell' Ambiente, MedEnergie, and the International Journal of Global Energy Issues. Rutledge also has published articles in national newspapers and professional and trade journals, including the Financial Times, Guardian, Financial Times Energy Economist, Financial Times International Coal Report, and Oxford Energy Forum.

Addicted to Oil looks at the political, economic, and social implications of America's dependence on oil. Rutledge argues that America's reliance on the car and therefore oil has heavily influenced U.S. foreign policy. In the book, the author traces the origins of America's "addiction" to oil throughout the twentieth century. The author also discusses how America's relationship with the Middle East was formed through a pursuit for energy security, and how this was the motivation behind the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "Despite his book being heavily sourced, the author does not provide a shred of evidence to substantiate his claim that the war in Iraq was about oil," asserted Gal Luft in a review of Addicted to Oil for the Middle East Quarterly, while the Middle East's Fred Rhodes felt that "this book provides an understanding of America's international political priorities."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Asian Affairs, November 1, 2005, Barney Smith, review of Addicted to Oil: America's Relentless Drive for Energy Security, p. 374.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, September 1, 2005, A. Klinghoffer, review of Addicted to Oil, p. 154.

Environmental Politics, February 1, 2006, David Layfield, review of Addicted to Oil, p. 138.

International Affairs, January 1, 2006, David S. Painter, review of Addicted to Oil, p. 240.

International Journal of Middle East Studies, November 1, 2006, Amy Myers Jaffe, review of Addicted to Oil, p. 615.

Journal of Energy Literature, Volume 11, issue 1, 2005, Juan Carlos Boue, review of Addicted to Oil.

Middle East, May 1, 2005, Fred Rhodes, review of Addicted to Oil, p. 64.

Middle East Quarterly, spring, 2006, Gal Luft, review of Addicted to Oil, p. 73.

ONLINE

Addicted to Oil Web site,http://www.oiladdict.com (August 16, 2008).