Quiz: "stranglehold" or "foothold"?

The correct answer is:

stranglehold

Critics are saying that BP has a stranglehold on the Iraqi economy.

A stranglehold is a position of complete control over something, often preventing it from developing. A stranglehold is also a tight grip around a person's neck that could lead to death be asphyxiation if held too long. If you strangle someone, you squeeze that person's neck. If you squeeze long enough, the other person could die.

Critics of BP, the global oil giant with headquarters in London, have accused the company of having a "stranglehold" on the Iraqi economy. According to The Observer, the Baghdad government has now agreed to pay BP for operating the Rumaila field, Iraq's largest oil field, even when oil is not being produced. The original deal with BP, signed in 2009, had no such provisions. The contract has been rewritten so that BP will be immediately compensated for civil disruption or government decisions to cut production. This could influence the policy decisions made by Iraq in relation to the Opec oil cartel, critics claim.

"Iraq's oil auctions were portrayed as a model of transparency and a negotiating victory for the Iraqi government," Greg Muttitt, author of Fuel on the Fire: Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq, told the newspaper. "Now we see the reality was the opposite: a backroom deal that gave BP a stranglehold on the Iraqi economy, and even influence over the decisions of Opec."

A "foothold" is a more positive expression. If you are climbing a wall, for example, you will need to find a place where one foot is secure before you can move your other foot. This place is called a "foothold". If you "gain a foothold" in a company or a market, you secure a position from which further progress can be made. 

"We're having problems gaining a foothold in the London property market."