Dr. Jonathan Kuiken

Dr. Jonathan Kuiken received his doctorate in Modern British history from Boston College in 2013, where he also served as a postdoctoral and teaching fellow. Since joining the Wilkes faculty in 2014, Dr. Kuiken has taught courses in European and global history, focusing on themes of geopolitics, economics, energy, and the trade of commodities and ideas. These teaching themes also inform his scholarship which currently concentrates on the completion of his manuscript titled Empires of Energy: Britain, British Petroleum, Shell and the remaking of the international oil industry, 1957-1983.

Dr. Jonathan Kuiken is specialist in the history of the British Empire and energy history, focusing on the development of the international oil industry, receiving his Ph.D. in History from Boston College. He teaches global history courses as well as a unique “Energy in History” course, which is part of Wilkes’ interdisciplinary Energy Studies minor and has published articles on the British Empire in post-colonial Africa and British oil policy in the leading up to the 1973 oil crisis.

Dr. Kuiken leads the Contemporary History Project at Wilkes external website, which organizes speakers and events that put contemporary events in historical context.

He also advises the student-led History Behind the Headlines podcast, which is a great opportunity for students to get experience work on projects in public history and digital history.

Listen to History Behind the Headlines on Soundcloud external website

Read about History Behind the Headlines in The Beacon external website

Journal Articles

‘Caught in Transition: Britain’s Oil Policy in the Face of Impending Crisis, 1967-1973,’ Historical Social Research, vol. 39 (2014) 4.

‘Striking the balance: intervention versus non-intervention in Britain’s oil policy, 1957-1970,’ Britain and the World, vol. 8 (March, 2015) 1.

‘La persistence d’empire? Le rôle des compagnies pétrolières britanniques en Afrique postcoloniale,’ Afrique contemporaine, (Forthcoming).

Book Chapters

"Free from Interference, Protected from Competition? The Evolution of British Petroleum's Relationship with the British State, 1960-1968," in L'Europe et la question énergétique: Les années 1960/1980, ed. Alain Beltran, et. al. (Bruxelles: P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2016).

Helene von Bismarck. British Policy in the Persian Gulf, 1961-1968: Conceptions of Informal Empire. Britain and the World. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Journal of British Studies, Volume 53 / Issue 02/ April 2014, pp 528-529

Preferring to dismember it: Margaret Thatcher and the demise of the British National Oil Company.
     International History Seminar
     Institute of Historical Research, London, UK, 23 May, 2017

Ignoring, countering, and living with OPEC: Britain, BP, Shell and the shifting global energy order, 1960-1980
    OPEC and the International Energy Order Conference
    New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 18-20 April, 2017

Facing down the ‘Oil Weapon’: Britain and the attempt to construct an Organization of Petroleum Importing Countries, 1970-1973
     World History Association Annual Conference
     University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium, 2-5 July, 2016

British oil for British companies?  BP, Shell, and the battle for preference in the North Sea
     Britain and the World Conference
     King’s College, London, UK, 23 June, 2016

Simply a matter of transport? Pipelines and Nationalism in the post-Suez Middle East
     American Historical Association Annual Conference
     Atlanta, GA, 9 January, 2016

The Bingham Inquiry: Sanctions-Busting in Post-Colonial Africa and the Politics of Energy
     History of Energy Autumn School – Energy and Empires
     EDF Archive Center, Blois, France, 6 October – 10 October, 2015

Shell, British Petroleum and the Biafran War – oil diplomacy in the midst of rebellion
      World History Association Annual Conference
      Savannah, GA, 30 June – 2 July, 2015

Free from interference, protected from competition?  The evolution of British Petroleum’s relationship with the British State, 1960-1968
      Europe and Energy: from the 1960’s to the 1980’s Conference,
      Università di Padova Padua, Italy, 18-19 October, 2013

 “We Are Fully Aware of the Industry’s Problems”: The Deterioration of the British Government’s Relations with British Petroleum and Shell Prior to the 1973 Oil Crisis
The Oil and Energy as Challenges to Contemporary History Conference
Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany, 26-28 September, 2013

Business as Usual? Oil, Strategic Partnerships, and the Politics of Oil in pre-1973 Britain
The British Study Group at the Center for European Studies,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 21 February, 2013

“We Intend to Stand By Our Commitments in the Gulf While There is A Need For Them”: Oil and Britain’s Decision to Withdraw from the Persian Gulf
Britain and the World Conference, British Scholar Society,
Edinburgh, UK, 21-23 June, 2012

Striking the Balance: State Intervention vs. Non-Intervention in Britain’s Oil Policy,
1957-1970
The International History Seminar
Institute of Historical Research, London, UK, 19 June, 2012

The Outsider as Insider: Britain and the Integration of European Energy Policies: 1957-1973
Council for European Studies 19th International Conference of Europeanists,
Boston, MA, 23 March, 2012

British Oil Policy from Suez to East of Suez
Ph.D. History Research Seminar, Imperial College,
London, UK, 17 February, 2011 

“Petrol Economy is Vital to You and Your Country”: The Politics of Petrol in Postwar Britain
North American Conference on British Studies Annual Meeting
Baltimore, MD, 12 November, 2010

Researching Oil: Strategies and Challenges
Summer Ph.D. Research at the Center for Contemporary British History,
Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, UK, 19 June, 2010