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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores the impact of primary energy on the measurement of state power and hegemony. Through an examination of British and American hegemonies, the role of coal, oil and petroleum on the hegemonic cycle is assessed, and the argument is presented for the inclusion of energy as a primary element underpinning the state power base. Utilising the Hegemonic Stability Theory approach to the study of global hegemony, a framework for the assessment of the role of energy on international hegemony is constructed. The Hegemonic Stability Theory approach employed in this study is augmented through the incorporation of several complimentary theoretical approaches, in order to improve the theory’s applicability to multiple cases. Through an examination of the economic, financial, and military/naval ‘pillars’ of the respective hegemonic powers, the study determines that energy has had a marked impact on both British and American hegemonies. Technological developments, notably the steam engine, and the subsequent conversion of the Royal Navy, the cornerstone of British hegemony, from sail to steam, made coal vital to the British Empire. In contrast, the use of oil and petroleum during the United States hegemonic reign indicate that access to oil and petroleum not only benefitted the United States material power base, but has become vital to sustaining American hegemony. This study makes a plausible case for the inclusion of energy as a factor in the assessment of state power, and draws attention to the importance of ensuring energy security and maintaining technological leads. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling ondersoek die impak wat grond-energie het as maatstaf op staatsmag en hegemonie. Na afleiding van ‘n gevalle studie van beide Britse en Amerikaanse hegemonies - die rol wat steenkool, olie en petroleum speel op die hegemoniese siklus – stel hierdie navorsingstuk voor dat grond-energie ingesluit moet word as ‘n kriterium van hoe staatsmag gemeet word. Hierdie tesis wend Hegemoniese Stabiliteitsteorie aan om internasionale hegemonie te ondersoek. ‘n Raamwerk om die belang van energie te meet in internasionale hegemonie word opgestel. Die Hegemoniese Stabiliteitsteorie aanslag word aangepas deur verskeie komplimentêre teoretiese benaderings te inkorporeer en sodoende die teorie meer toepaslik te maak op verskeie gevallestudies. Deur die ekonomiese, finansiële en militêle/vloot ‘pilare’ van die onderskeie hegemoniese magte te ondersoek, bevind hierdie verhandeling dat energie ‘n bepalende invloed gehad het op beide Britse en Amerikaanse hegemonies. Tegnologiese ontwikkelings, mees opmerklik die stoomenjin en die gevolglike oorgang van die Koninklike Vloot (die hoeksteun van Britse hegemonie) van seil- na stoomenjins, was die gevolg dat steenkool van uiterse belang geword het vir die Britse Ryk. In kontras word aangedui dat die gebruik van en toegang tot olie en petroleum tydens die hegemoniese bewind van die Verenigde State van Amerika nie net die materiële magsbasis bevoordeel het nie, maar asook bepalend geword het om Amerikaanse hegemonie te handhaaf. Hierdie verhandeling maak die aanneemlike voorstelling dat energie ingesluit moet word as ‘n faktor om staatsmag te meet, en dui die belang daarvan aan om tegnologiese vooruitgang te onderhou en sodoende energie sekuriteit te verseker.

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This dissertation attempts to determine what Britain expected from participation in the Supreme Economic Council (SEC) of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and to what extent its expectations were realized. An investigation of available sources reveals that access to European markets and raw materials and a balance of power to prevent French, German, or Russian hegemony in Europe were British foreign policy goals that SEC delegates sought to advance. Primary sources for this study include unpublished British Foreign Office and Cabinet records, published British, United States, and German government documents, unpublished personal papers of people directing SEC efforts, such as David Lloyd George, Austen Chamberlain, Cecil Harmsworth, Harry Osborne Mance, and John Maynard Keynes, and published memoirs and accounts of persons who were directly or indirectly involved with the SEC. Secondary accounts include biographies and histories or studies of the Peace Conference and of countries affected by its work. Primarily concerned with the first half of 1919, this dissertation focuses on British participation in Inter-allied war-time economic efforts, in post-war Rhineland control, in the creation of the SEC, and in the SEC endeavors of revictualling Germany, providing food and medical relief for eastern Europe, and reconstructing European communications. It concludes with Britain's role in the attempt to convert the SEC into an International Economic Council in the last half of 1919 and with the transfer of SEC duties to the Reparations Commission and to the League of Nations. Through participation in the SEC, Britain led in negotiating the Brussels Agreement and in establishing the Rhineland Commission and the German Economic Commission, reversing French attempts to control the Rhenish economy, preventing French hegemony in Europe, and gaining access to German markets for British goods. Although it failed to achieve its goals of strong eastern European states and access to markets and raw materials there, Britain led in restoration of communications and participated in the relief effort which saved the new states from anarchy in 1919.

Scholars assert that the Cold War began at one of several different points. Material recently available at the National Archives yields a view different from those already presented. From these records, and material from the Foreign Relations Series, Parliamentary Debates, and United States Government documents, a new picture emerges. This study focuses on the British occupation of Germany and on the Council of Foreign Ministers' Moscow Conference of 1947. The failure of this conference preceded the adoption of the Marshall Plan and a stronger Western policy toward the Soviet Union. Thus, the Moscow Conference emphasized the disintegrating relations between East and West which resulted in the Cold War.

This study has a twofold purpose: to demonstrate the causes of and various responses (British domestic, Iranian, Arabian, American, and Soviet) to the British decision to withdraw and to illustrate the regional political consequences of that withdrawal. The British Labour Government decision resulted primarily from an economic crisis. The various responses to the decision seem to have been motivated by national self-interest. Some of the Gulf states-- Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait--predicted that the consequences of the withdrawal would be desirable while others--Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates-- predicted that the consequences would not be beneficial. In some ways, both sides were correct in their predictions.

This thesis examines the Egyptian and Sudanese policy of Gladstone's Second Ministry. Sources include microfilms of letters from the prime ministers to the Queen, and Cabinet papers. Essential were Hansard, The Times, and Herslet, as well as biographical and autobiographical studies of the persons involved. The thesis narrates the Egyptian events preceding the formation of Gladstone's Ministry. It then discusses the revolt in Egypt, which resulted in British occupation, and the Mahdi's rebellion in the Sudan, which led to the fall of Khartoum. The thesis concludes that Gladstone failed because he did not want Britain to be in Egypt or the Sudan. Therefore, there was no consistent policy, and his failures were among the elements that led to the fall of his Government.

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