Poisoned Partnership: The International Mercury Cartel and Spanish-Italian Relations, 1945-1954

This article investigates the development of the Spanish–Italian mercury cartel from the end of World War II to the mid-1950s. Previous literature has singled out the cartel as one of the most robust international cartels of the twentieth century, but as this article shows, the cartel broke down tow...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Hierro De Lecea, Pablo Del, Strorli, Spen
Format: article
Publication Date:2021
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Repository:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:e-spacio.uned.es:20.500.14468/31768
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/31768
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:5504.02 Historia contemporánea
business-government relations
cartels
natural resources
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oai_identifier_str oai:e-spacio.uned.es:20.500.14468/31768
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spelling Poisoned Partnership: The International Mercury Cartel and Spanish-Italian Relations, 1945-1954Hierro De Lecea, Pablo DelStrorli, Spen5504.02 Historia contemporáneabusiness-government relationscartelsnatural resourcesThis article investigates the development of the Spanish–Italian mercury cartel from the end of World War II to the mid-1950s. Previous literature has singled out the cartel as one of the most robust international cartels of the twentieth century, but as this article shows, the cartel broke down toward the end of the 1940s, and although briefly reestablished in 1954, it quickly dissolved again. Building on access to original source material from archives in Spain, Italy, the United States, and United Kingdom, we investigate the underlying reasons why the cartel broke down, and how and why it was eventually reestablished. Because both the main Italian and the Spanish mercury producers were state-owned, this article pays special attention to the influence of the political relations between Spain and Italy on the development of the cartel. The study of the mercury cartel is used as a prism to investigate the point where industry strategies meet government strategies. This article thus contributes to two major strands of literature, both to the business history literature on international cartels in the post-1945 world and to the diplomatic history literature on the intricate relationship between Spain and Italy in the early phase of the Cold War.Cambridge University Presse-Spacio UNED20262026-02-1020212021-03-0320212021-03-03journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/31768reponame:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNEDinstname:Universidad Nacional de Educación a DistanciaInglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.esoai:e-spacio.uned.es:20.500.14468/317682026-06-06T12:38:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Poisoned Partnership: The International Mercury Cartel and Spanish-Italian Relations, 1945-1954
title Poisoned Partnership: The International Mercury Cartel and Spanish-Italian Relations, 1945-1954
spellingShingle Poisoned Partnership: The International Mercury Cartel and Spanish-Italian Relations, 1945-1954
Hierro De Lecea, Pablo Del
5504.02 Historia contemporánea
business-government relations
cartels
natural resources
title_short Poisoned Partnership: The International Mercury Cartel and Spanish-Italian Relations, 1945-1954
title_full Poisoned Partnership: The International Mercury Cartel and Spanish-Italian Relations, 1945-1954
title_fullStr Poisoned Partnership: The International Mercury Cartel and Spanish-Italian Relations, 1945-1954
title_full_unstemmed Poisoned Partnership: The International Mercury Cartel and Spanish-Italian Relations, 1945-1954
title_sort Poisoned Partnership: The International Mercury Cartel and Spanish-Italian Relations, 1945-1954
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Hierro De Lecea, Pablo Del
Strorli, Spen
author Hierro De Lecea, Pablo Del
author_facet Hierro De Lecea, Pablo Del
Strorli, Spen
author_role author
author2 Strorli, Spen
author2_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv e-Spacio UNED
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv 5504.02 Historia contemporánea
business-government relations
cartels
natural resources
topic 5504.02 Historia contemporánea
business-government relations
cartels
natural resources
description This article investigates the development of the Spanish–Italian mercury cartel from the end of World War II to the mid-1950s. Previous literature has singled out the cartel as one of the most robust international cartels of the twentieth century, but as this article shows, the cartel broke down toward the end of the 1940s, and although briefly reestablished in 1954, it quickly dissolved again. Building on access to original source material from archives in Spain, Italy, the United States, and United Kingdom, we investigate the underlying reasons why the cartel broke down, and how and why it was eventually reestablished. Because both the main Italian and the Spanish mercury producers were state-owned, this article pays special attention to the influence of the political relations between Spain and Italy on the development of the cartel. The study of the mercury cartel is used as a prism to investigate the point where industry strategies meet government strategies. This article thus contributes to two major strands of literature, both to the business history literature on international cartels in the post-1945 world and to the diplomatic history literature on the intricate relationship between Spain and Italy in the early phase of the Cold War.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
2021-03-03
2021
2021-03-03
2026
2026-02-10
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/31768
url https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/31768
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.es
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.es
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
instname:Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
instname_str Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
reponame_str e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
collection e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,812429

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