Dès sa création en 1966, l’ERAP s’est fixé pour but d’accroître la production du pétrole « franc », en diversifiant ses sources d’approvisionnement. Un tel objectif prend une tournure cruciale dès lors que les rapports tendus entre le groupe français et les autorités algériennes semblent menacer ses acquis dans le Sahara. Toutefois, se tailler une place sur le marché mondial semble à cette époque une tâche ardue, voire improbable, puisque les espaces les plus pétrolifères sont déjà occupés par les grandes sociétés, dites Majors. Néanmoins, la société d’État française réussit à s’implanter dans plusieurs pays producteurs, dont l’Irak en 1968, jusqu’alors considéré comme la chasse gardée de la Compagnie française des pétroles (CFP). Aussi, l’expérience irakienne, suite à l’insuccès en Algérie, incite Elf ERAP à se concentrer dans les pays pétroliers de l’Afrique subsaharienne et en Mer du Nord. Le 3 février 1968, Elf ERAP signe un accord avec la compagnie d’État pétrolière, INOC, pour se charger de la prospection et de l’exploitation d’une partie du territoire confisqué par l’État irakien à la puissante Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). En contrepartie de ses apports financiers et techniques, Elf ERAP sera rémunérée par un approvisionnement garanti en pétrole irakien : il s’agit d’un nouveau genre de partenariat, dit « contrat d’agence ». Ce dernier succède au système classique des concessions et vaut à la société d’État un franc succès dans son projet de pénétration au Moyen Orient. Très vite, les prospections donnent lieu à la découverte de gisements. La production démarre en 1976 et s’élève à 5 millions de tonnes en 1977. Dès lors, Elf ERAP, devenue la SNEA, peut envisager avec optimisme son avenir énergétique, puisque sa sécurité d’approvisionnement est, en partie, assurée par le marché irakien. Mais, contre toute attente, le groupe d’État français se retire de l’affaire en mai 1977, laissant place à l’INOC, qui prend en charge le projet deux ans avant la date prévue par le contrat initial de 1968. Ce sujet de recherche consiste à éclaircir le rôle d’opérateur joué par l’ERAP en Irak, entre 1968 et 1977. Pour tenter d’expliquer le départ prématuré d’Elf Irak, il nous faut identifier les facteurs endogènes et exogènes qui ont pu motiver une telle décision. Autrement dit, la société d’État aurait-elle subi les revers de ses propres choix énergétiques ou un tel dénouement serait-il imputable à la politique pétrolière irakienne? Quelles sont les implications de la conjoncture pétrolière internationale dans le cas d’un tel retrait? Aidée des archives historiques d’Elf et de TOTAL, nous sommes arrivée à la conclusion que la compression du marché pétrolier, entre distributeurs et producteurs, au cours des années 1970, a considérablement nui à la rentabilité des contrats intermédiaires du type agence. / Ever since its creation in 1966, ERAP aimed to increase oil from the “franc” zone by diversifying its supply sources. Such an aim became all the more crucial as its acquisitions in the Sahara seemed threatened by tense relations between the French group and Algerian authorities. Still, to secure a share of the world market at that time seemed to a difficult if not an impossible task, the biggest oil-producing spaces having already been occupied by the big corporations called Majors. However, the French state company managed to settle in several oil-producing countries, including Iraq in 1968, until then viewed as a private hunting ground for the Compagnie française des pétroles (CFP). Also, following its failure in Algeria, the Iraq experiment prompted Elf ERAP to set its sights on oil-rich subsaharian African countries and the North Sea. On February 3rd 1968, Elf ERAP signed an agreement with the state oil company INOC to take charge of exploration and exploitation of a part of the territory that was confiscated by the Iraqi government from the powerful Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). In return for this financial and technical input/support, Elf ERAP would be rewarded with steady supply of Iraqi oil. It was a new kind of partnership termed « service contract ». The latter replaced the old system of concessions and helped the state company succeed in its attempt to penetrate the Middle East. Exploration quickly led to the discovery of oil fields. Production started in 1976 and reached 5 million tons in 1977.This allowed the Elf ERAP, renamed the SNEA, to look with optimism at its energy supply future, the latter being provided in considerable part by the Iraqi market. Surprisingly, however, the French state company backed away from the deal in May 1977, and was replaced by the INOC which took over the project two years before the date planned by the initial contract of 1968. This research project seeks to clarify the operator role played by ERAP in Iraq between 1968 and 1977. To explain the premature departure of Elf Iraq, one needs to determine both the endogenous and exogenous factors that might have motivated such a move. In other words, did the state company suffer the repercussions of its own energy choices, or was the Iraqi oil policy responsible for such an outcome? To what extent was the withdrawal attributable to the international oil situation? With the help of Elf and TOTAL archives, we have come to the conclusion that the compression of the oil market uniting distributors and producers greatly affected the profitability of intermediary contracts « service contracts».

In the summer of 1391 anti-Jewish violence spread across the kingdom of Castile and the Crown of Aragon. Unprecedented numbers of Jews were murdered and even more were forcibly converted. These converts, known as conversos, formed a new, self-perpetuating social group, which, together with the rest of Spanish society, remained deeply conscious of its distinct ethnicity and culture. A century later, testimonies to the Spanish Inquisition depict a converso community with a continued, if varied, affiliation to Judaism. This dissertation investigates the economic, social and political factors that promoted Jewish identification among the first two generations of conversos in Majorca following their baptism in 1391. It employs previously unexamined and unpublished archival sources to argue that corporate fiscal obligations had a major impact in shaping the converso community in Majorca, just as they shaped Jewish social and communal life prior to 1391. Conversos organized collectively in order to meet royal fiscal demands, settle their corporate debt and fund social welfare following the disruptions of 1391, adopting administrative models of the former aljama. The monarchy continued to relate to the conversos as a distinct corporate entity in the same ways it had dealt with them as Jews. Royal efforts to prevent converso emigration to the Maghreb, where many fled to renege on Catholicism, carried overtones of the same proto-mercantilist policies that motivated its failed attempts to revivify the island’s Jewish aljama. Publicized restrictions against conversos, many of whom continued to cultivate prior commercial and family relationships with Maghrebi Jews, contributed to popular assumptions that Majorcan conversos at sea were Judaizers, spurring targeted anti-converso and anti-Jewish piracy. Conversos thus remained entrenched in the same socioeconomic structures, and employed the same licit and illicit strategies to cope with royal exploitation, as when they were Jews. This perpetuated a group identity that was unmistakeably anchored in their Jewish past, and which could promote other aspects of Jewish affiliation. In 1404 the conversos established a formal confraternity which replicated the social welfare programs and administrative techniques of the former aljama within the framework of a Catholic pious society, representing one of the first necessary adaptations to Christian life.

This dissertation traces the competing forces of antisemitism and Jewish civic activism in French colonial Algeria from the 1870 Crémieux decree to the end of World War II. It examines the relationship between antisemitism and the practices of citizenship in a colonial context. The dissertation centers on the experience of Algerian Jews and their evolving identity as citizens as they competed with the other colonial groups, including French citizens from the metropole, newly naturalized non-French settlers, and Algerian Muslims. Periodic and recurring episodes of antisemitism resulted from competition for control over municipal government. In colonial Algeria, municipal governments acted as the major crucible for politics and patronage available to settlers and citizens. This dissertation contends that through the competition for the scarce resources and rights as citizens, various political groups in the colony exerted their claims on the state via the degradation of Algeria Jews, who were naturalized en masse in 1870. This competition resulted in antisemitic violence as well as an ongoing and hotly contested debate on the definition of French identity. As Algerian Jews assimilated as a result of the urging of their communal leaders and outside influences from metropolitan French Jews and Jewish organizations such as the Alliance Israélite Universelle, antisemites sought to limit Algerian Jewish access to rights. Algerian Jews faced particularly strong competition from the newly naturalized French settlers who emigrated from Italy, Spain, and Malta. These immigrants viewed the Algerian Jews as particularly dangerous status competitors. Rather than accept antisemitism as inevitable, Algerian Jews defended themselves against antisemitic attacks through the ii i formation of defense organizations such as the Comité Algérien des Études Sociales. They urged fellow Jews to fulfill their responsibilities to France, celebrating military service and sacrifices, and demanding that Jews exercise their right to vote. Algerian Jews negotiated the antisemitism of French and newly French settlers, as well as Algerian Muslims. French antisemites took advantage of Algerian Muslim frustrations with their inferior status and encouraged antisemitic violence among Algerian Muslims. Algerian Jews sought to diffuse such tensions by encourage fraternity with Algerian Muslims in the colony. As Algerian Jews assimilated and integrated into the French colony and civil society, they negotiated fraught relationships with other colonial groups, proving themselves as Frenchmen while encouraging unity with Algerian Muslims. Algerian Jews straddled the line between citizen and subject in the colonial context and fought to prove themselves as worthy French citizens in the face of competition and antisemitism. Although specific to the case of French colonial Algeria, these issues of competition for status, identity, and rights are complementary to studies of other colonial contexts and that of newly emerged states. Such debates about citizenship and belonging lie at the heart of much of the turmoil of twentieth century history.

“The Gulag and Soviet Society in Western Siberia, 1929-1953” examines the history of forced labour during the Stalin era in Western Siberia, or present-day Novosibirsk, Tomsk and Kemerovo Provinces. The region was a key site of Stalin-era repression, as it was home to numerous Gulag camps including Siblag, one of the longest lasting and most economically diversified of the many prison-labour camps scattered throughout the former Soviet Union. Western Siberia was also one of the main areas of exile for peasants and, later, displaced ethnic groups. The dissertation traces the seeming contradictions in the development of the Gulag by juxtaposing the very modern, bureaucratic “Gulag” as it appeared on paper, with the “Gulag” on the ground that relied heavily on informal practices, data falsification, and personal connections. The Gulag is thus emblematic of the “neo-traditional” modernization of the Soviet Union under Stalin. The dissertation also examines points of illicit and condoned interaction between the Gulag and surrounding population centres, thus challenging Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s seminal and enduring depiction of the Gulag as an isolated archipelago of concentration camps. Illicit interaction included widespread black-market activity, the smuggling of correspondence, sexual affairs, and, surprisingly, even instances of locals sneaking into the camps to use camp facilities. Condoned interaction took place at the level of local economic planning (the transfer of prisoners for help with specific projects), a striking overlap in cultural and propaganda campaigns, the contracting out of prisoners to local enterprises, and the granting of unescorted status to large numbers of prisoners, who thus had the right to move outside of the camp zones without guard. Because many of Western Siberia’s camps were located in and around major urban centres, including Novosibirsk and Tomsk, the region is important for examining issues of interaction. The dissertation draws extensively on sources from four archives in Moscow and four archives in Siberia, as well as Gulag newspapers, published and unpublished memoirs, document collections, and archival collections available in the United States. Many of these sources are under-utilized, including Communist Party documents from the local camp administrations, personal files of prisoners, and NKVD operational orders.

In the summer of 1391 anti-Jewish violence spread across the kingdom of Castile and the Crown of Aragon. Unprecedented numbers of Jews were murdered and even more were forcibly converted. These converts, known as conversos, formed a new, self-perpetuating social group, which, together with the rest of Spanish society, remained deeply conscious of its distinct ethnicity and culture. A century later, testimonies to the Spanish Inquisition depict a converso community with a continued, if varied, affiliation to Judaism. This dissertation investigates the economic, social and political factors that promoted Jewish identification among the first two generations of conversos in Majorca following their baptism in 1391. It employs previously unexamined and unpublished archival sources to argue that corporate fiscal obligations had a major impact in shaping the converso community in Majorca, just as they shaped Jewish social and communal life prior to 1391. Conversos organized collectively in order to meet royal fiscal demands, settle their corporate debt and fund social welfare following the disruptions of 1391, adopting administrative models of the former aljama. The monarchy continued to relate to the conversos as a distinct corporate entity in the same ways it had dealt with them as Jews. Royal efforts to prevent converso emigration to the Maghreb, where many fled to renege on Catholicism, carried overtones of the same proto-mercantilist policies that motivated its failed attempts to revivify the island’s Jewish aljama. Publicized restrictions against conversos, many of whom continued to cultivate prior commercial and family relationships with Maghrebi Jews, contributed to popular assumptions that Majorcan conversos at sea were Judaizers, spurring targeted anti-converso and anti-Jewish piracy. Conversos thus remained entrenched in the same socioeconomic structures, and employed the same licit and illicit strategies to cope with royal exploitation, as when they were Jews. This perpetuated a group identity that was unmistakeably anchored in their Jewish past, and which could promote other aspects of Jewish affiliation. In 1404 the conversos established a formal confraternity which replicated the social welfare programs and administrative techniques of the former aljama within the framework of a Catholic pious society, representing one of the first necessary adaptations to Christian life.

National historical memory in France has often given rise to violent polemic. Controversial episodes of national history, such as the Second World War and Algerian conflict, have attracted considerable attention. Yet despite its obvious importance as a particularly violent war of decolonization and precursor to the Vietnam War, the First Indochina War (1946-54) has largely been ignored. In the context of decolonization and the beginning of the Cold War, however, Indochina offers a unique example of the complex relationship between event, commemoration, and memory. This dissertation examines state commemorations, official and unofficial sites of memory, film and other media representations of the war, and several “flashpoint” events that have elicited particularly heated debates over the legacies of the war. The thematic structure allows me to bring together various vehicles and artefacts of memory, from monuments to commemorative ceremonies to veterans’ associations, along with less tangible expressions of memory expressed through public debates and film. I also analyze the tangible legacy of colonialism in the metropole: the ‘repatriate’ camps that housed primarily French citizens of Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodian origin after 1956. This chapter makes an important contribution to the history of immigration to France, which is critical to understanding issues currently facing this multicultural society. Two dominant narratives emerge from my analysis. The first is maintained by a majority of veterans and elements of the political right and extreme right, and is characterized by themes of heroic soldiers combating communism and a belief in their abandonment by the metropolitan government and public. In some cases, a sense of duty to protect ‘Greater France’ is invoked, and in others, the duty to fight with the independent Vietnamese against their communist oppressors. The second narrative casts the conflict as a ‘dirty’ war of colonial reconquest. Though the primary goal of the dissertation is to elucidate the construction of particular narratives of war, I argue that this memorial process is inherently intertwined with the re-evaluation of the colonial project. The fundamental disagreement over the nature of the war, as either a battle against communism or a war of colonial reconquest, has prompted extensive debates over the relative merits of the colonial project and its putative resurrection in 1945.

This dissertation traces the competing forces of antisemitism and Jewish civic activism in French colonial Algeria from the 1870 Crémieux decree to the end of World War II. It examines the relationship between antisemitism and the practices of citizenship in a colonial context. The dissertation centers on the experience of Algerian Jews and their evolving identity as citizens as they competed with the other colonial groups, including French citizens from the metropole, newly naturalized non-French settlers, and Algerian Muslims. Periodic and recurring episodes of antisemitism resulted from competition for control over municipal government. In colonial Algeria, municipal governments acted as the major crucible for politics and patronage available to settlers and citizens. This dissertation contends that through the competition for the scarce resources and rights as citizens, various political groups in the colony exerted their claims on the state via the degradation of Algeria Jews, who were naturalized en masse in 1870. This competition resulted in antisemitic violence as well as an ongoing and hotly contested debate on the definition of French identity. As Algerian Jews assimilated as a result of the urging of their communal leaders and outside influences from metropolitan French Jews and Jewish organizations such as the Alliance Israélite Universelle, antisemites sought to limit Algerian Jewish access to rights. Algerian Jews faced particularly strong competition from the newly naturalized French settlers who emigrated from Italy, Spain, and Malta. These immigrants viewed the Algerian Jews as particularly dangerous status competitors. Rather than accept antisemitism as inevitable, Algerian Jews defended themselves against antisemitic attacks through the ii i formation of defense organizations such as the Comité Algérien des Études Sociales. They urged fellow Jews to fulfill their responsibilities to France, celebrating military service and sacrifices, and demanding that Jews exercise their right to vote. Algerian Jews negotiated the antisemitism of French and newly French settlers, as well as Algerian Muslims. French antisemites took advantage of Algerian Muslim frustrations with their inferior status and encouraged antisemitic violence among Algerian Muslims. Algerian Jews sought to diffuse such tensions by encourage fraternity with Algerian Muslims in the colony. As Algerian Jews assimilated and integrated into the French colony and civil society, they negotiated fraught relationships with other colonial groups, proving themselves as Frenchmen while encouraging unity with Algerian Muslims. Algerian Jews straddled the line between citizen and subject in the colonial context and fought to prove themselves as worthy French citizens in the face of competition and antisemitism. Although specific to the case of French colonial Algeria, these issues of competition for status, identity, and rights are complementary to studies of other colonial contexts and that of newly emerged states. Such debates about citizenship and belonging lie at the heart of much of the turmoil of twentieth century history.

“The Gulag and Soviet Society in Western Siberia, 1929-1953” examines the history of forced labour during the Stalin era in Western Siberia, or present-day Novosibirsk, Tomsk and Kemerovo Provinces. The region was a key site of Stalin-era repression, as it was home to numerous Gulag camps including Siblag, one of the longest lasting and most economically diversified of the many prison-labour camps scattered throughout the former Soviet Union. Western Siberia was also one of the main areas of exile for peasants and, later, displaced ethnic groups. The dissertation traces the seeming contradictions in the development of the Gulag by juxtaposing the very modern, bureaucratic “Gulag” as it appeared on paper, with the “Gulag” on the ground that relied heavily on informal practices, data falsification, and personal connections. The Gulag is thus emblematic of the “neo-traditional” modernization of the Soviet Union under Stalin. The dissertation also examines points of illicit and condoned interaction between the Gulag and surrounding population centres, thus challenging Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s seminal and enduring depiction of the Gulag as an isolated archipelago of concentration camps. Illicit interaction included widespread black-market activity, the smuggling of correspondence, sexual affairs, and, surprisingly, even instances of locals sneaking into the camps to use camp facilities. Condoned interaction took place at the level of local economic planning (the transfer of prisoners for help with specific projects), a striking overlap in cultural and propaganda campaigns, the contracting out of prisoners to local enterprises, and the granting of unescorted status to large numbers of prisoners, who thus had the right to move outside of the camp zones without guard. Because many of Western Siberia’s camps were located in and around major urban centres, including Novosibirsk and Tomsk, the region is important for examining issues of interaction. The dissertation draws extensively on sources from four archives in Moscow and four archives in Siberia, as well as Gulag newspapers, published and unpublished memoirs, document collections, and archival collections available in the United States. Many of these sources are under-utilized, including Communist Party documents from the local camp administrations, personal files of prisoners, and NKVD operational orders.

In the midst of the progressive era, American nursing and medical education witnessed tremendous reform. The increase in the number of hospitals during the early twentieth century brought a growing demand for nurses and led to varying standards in admissions and education within hospital training schools. In addition, the rise of the field of public health led to a campaign by a number of American nurse leaders to reform nursing education. This campaign included: the formation of several national professional organizations; gaining the support of prominent medical officials, including those close to the Rockefeller Foundation, an influential philanthropic organization; and successfully arguing against the sending of public health nurses overseas during the First World War. Although these steps were taken prior to the end of the war, the period immediately following the war, and the 1918 pandemic spread of influenza, provided fertile ground for reopening discussions regarding nursing education both nationally and internationally. Following the war, the involvement of numerous American-backed organizations, including the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), the League of Red Cross Societies (LRCS), and the American Red Cross (ARC), in the training of nurses in Europe highlighted the numerous and conflicting ideals of American nurses in regards to nursing education during this period. In particular, those who had campaigned for the training of public health nurses in the USA — led primarily by the formidable nurse Annie Goodrich — voiced differing ideals for the training of nurses than those American nurses who led the work of the RF, the LRCS and the ARC in Europe following the war. It will be argued here that, contrary to earlier theses that have suggested the spread of a singular “American gospel” of public health nursing education, in fact there were several hotly contested ideas being conveyed in Europe by several different American individuals and organizations at this time. In particular, the RF’s support of two opposing ideals — that of their own nursing representative, Elisabeth Crowell in Europe, and that of Goodrich in the USA — heightened this conflict. The eventual success of one set of these ideas depended on the alignment of congruent ideals in the training of health care professionals with influential individuals and organizations. Furthermore, this dissertation suggests that the outcome of this debate influenced the future direction of nursing education in both Europe and North America.

Dès sa création en 1966, l’ERAP s’est fixé pour but d’accroître la production du pétrole « franc », en diversifiant ses sources d’approvisionnement. Un tel objectif prend une tournure cruciale dès lors que les rapports tendus entre le groupe français et les autorités algériennes semblent menacer ses acquis dans le Sahara. Toutefois, se tailler une place sur le marché mondial semble à cette époque une tâche ardue, voire improbable, puisque les espaces les plus pétrolifères sont déjà occupés par les grandes sociétés, dites Majors. Néanmoins, la société d’État française réussit à s’implanter dans plusieurs pays producteurs, dont l’Irak en 1968, jusqu’alors considéré comme la chasse gardée de la Compagnie française des pétroles (CFP). Aussi, l’expérience irakienne, suite à l’insuccès en Algérie, incite Elf ERAP à se concentrer dans les pays pétroliers de l’Afrique subsaharienne et en Mer du Nord. Le 3 février 1968, Elf ERAP signe un accord avec la compagnie d’État pétrolière, INOC, pour se charger de la prospection et de l’exploitation d’une partie du territoire confisqué par l’État irakien à la puissante Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). En contrepartie de ses apports financiers et techniques, Elf ERAP sera rémunérée par un approvisionnement garanti en pétrole irakien : il s’agit d’un nouveau genre de partenariat, dit « contrat d’agence ». Ce dernier succède au système classique des concessions et vaut à la société d’État un franc succès dans son projet de pénétration au Moyen Orient. Très vite, les prospections donnent lieu à la découverte de gisements. La production démarre en 1976 et s’élève à 5 millions de tonnes en 1977. Dès lors, Elf ERAP, devenue la SNEA, peut envisager avec optimisme son avenir énergétique, puisque sa sécurité d’approvisionnement est, en partie, assurée par le marché irakien. Mais, contre toute attente, le groupe d’État français se retire de l’affaire en mai 1977, laissant place à l’INOC, qui prend en charge le projet deux ans avant la date prévue par le contrat initial de 1968. Ce sujet de recherche consiste à éclaircir le rôle d’opérateur joué par l’ERAP en Irak, entre 1968 et 1977. Pour tenter d’expliquer le départ prématuré d’Elf Irak, il nous faut identifier les facteurs endogènes et exogènes qui ont pu motiver une telle décision. Autrement dit, la société d’État aurait-elle subi les revers de ses propres choix énergétiques ou un tel dénouement serait-il imputable à la politique pétrolière irakienne? Quelles sont les implications de la conjoncture pétrolière internationale dans le cas d’un tel retrait? Aidée des archives historiques d’Elf et de TOTAL, nous sommes arrivée à la conclusion que la compression du marché pétrolier, entre distributeurs et producteurs, au cours des années 1970, a considérablement nui à la rentabilité des contrats intermédiaires du type agence. / Ever since its creation in 1966, ERAP aimed to increase oil from the “franc” zone by diversifying its supply sources. Such an aim became all the more crucial as its acquisitions in the Sahara seemed threatened by tense relations between the French group and Algerian authorities. Still, to secure a share of the world market at that time seemed to a difficult if not an impossible task, the biggest oil-producing spaces having already been occupied by the big corporations called Majors. However, the French state company managed to settle in several oil-producing countries, including Iraq in 1968, until then viewed as a private hunting ground for the Compagnie française des pétroles (CFP). Also, following its failure in Algeria, the Iraq experiment prompted Elf ERAP to set its sights on oil-rich subsaharian African countries and the North Sea. On February 3rd 1968, Elf ERAP signed an agreement with the state oil company INOC to take charge of exploration and exploitation of a part of the territory that was confiscated by the Iraqi government from the powerful Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). In return for this financial and technical input/support, Elf ERAP would be rewarded with steady supply of Iraqi oil. It was a new kind of partnership termed « service contract ». The latter replaced the old system of concessions and helped the state company succeed in its attempt to penetrate the Middle East. Exploration quickly led to the discovery of oil fields. Production started in 1976 and reached 5 million tons in 1977.This allowed the Elf ERAP, renamed the SNEA, to look with optimism at its energy supply future, the latter being provided in considerable part by the Iraqi market. Surprisingly, however, the French state company backed away from the deal in May 1977, and was replaced by the INOC which took over the project two years before the date planned by the initial contract of 1968. This research project seeks to clarify the operator role played by ERAP in Iraq between 1968 and 1977. To explain the premature departure of Elf Iraq, one needs to determine both the endogenous and exogenous factors that might have motivated such a move. In other words, did the state company suffer the repercussions of its own energy choices, or was the Iraqi oil policy responsible for such an outcome? To what extent was the withdrawal attributable to the international oil situation? With the help of Elf and TOTAL archives, we have come to the conclusion that the compression of the oil market uniting distributors and producers greatly affected the profitability of intermediary contracts « service contracts».