The natural resource curse is a widely debated phenomenon usually proposing a connection between large extractive resource wealth and substandard economic performance. This paper concerns the connection between large extractive resource wealth and the potential for its effects on long term political stability. Using Venezuela as a case study, this paper delves into the political history of Venezuela, plagued by endemic political instability, and attempts to test the political aspect of the resource curse, analysing history with a focus on the oil industry. The conclusion is that there is a clear connection between oil price volatility and political instability, but only evident starting in the latter half of the 20th -century. Further research into specific regimes, eras, as well as comparative analyses between Venezuela and other states is required to provide additional answers in regard to specific causes for political instability in the early 20th -century and the pre-oil period.

This paper examines the US-Cuban relationship during the first military occupation of Cuba from 1898 to 1902, to show the role of high modernist state building in the occupation and the scope of Cuban participation in this endeavor. This is evidenced by heavily examining the annual reports of the US Military Governor General of Cuba and the US appointed civil secretaries of the Cuban government. This research differs from previous studies in the field by introducing James C. Scott’s concepts of legibility and high modernist state building, as well as suggesting that the Cuban civil secretaries participated within a limited scope to help form an independent republic.

This thesis is to indicate the positive British role in developing Nigeria during the Colonial period to the point that effective self-government became possible. The study is approached analytically, utilizing information primarily from printed sources, but including conclusions from the author's experience and informal interviews from local chiefs who lived through much of the Colonial period. Between 1849 and 1906, West African territories were occupied by several European powers who subjected the peoples to a new type of administration. In Nigeria, Britain was the Colonial master. The British unquestionably benefited economically from their control of Nigeria, but, to their credit, they also endeavored to create a colony in which the subject peoples would ultimately be able to take over the country's administration. Side by side with the British Government / commercial and religious groups with economic and religious motives, moved into Nigeria and introduced new concepts and practices of the western world. Barriers to effective administration and rapid advancement of native authority during the initial stages of British control were due, not to the shortcomings of the British Administrators, but, rather, in large measure to the traditions and social structures of the various peoples. Moreover, sufficient revenue was not available due to the underdeveloped economic resources and because local taxation was not introduced in the early days of the British administration. Assistance in the form of revenue came from the British Government and commercial groups. By the end of the Second World War administrative progress was encouraging, and radical approaches to democratic self-government reached a high peak. The process of transition to full-scale democracy on the British model proceeded rapidly. The British Government assisted the establishment of popularly elected majorities. The executive councils were taken over by politicians drawn from and responsible to the majorities. The system of one man, one vote was initiated. In general, Britain was remarkably successful in training Nigerians to assume control of their country, and the British efforts cannot be erased from the history books or from the minds of many Nigerians. The result was a united, viable, and independent Nigeria.

The Swamp Land Act of 1849, originally intended to give the state of Louisiana the unproductive swamplands within its borders and use the proceeds to construct the drains and levees necessary to reclaim these lands, was extended to Oregon in 1860. Oregon did not act on the matter until 1870, but once begun, it became a prolific source of political corruption, fiscal irresponsibility, fraud, and land speculation and monopolization. Even though the physiography of Oregon was much different than the states in the Mississippi Valley, millions of acres of "swampland" were filed upon and the state sold hundreds of thousands of acres long before it received legal title to these lands. In most cases final patents were never issued by the federal government. Rather than the proceeds of the sales of these lands going toward reclamation, the funds often went to the friends of state officials for dubious services. Appropriations, based on the anticipated sale of swampland, were made for the owners of wagon roads for projects never completed. This created a state indebtedness which the sale of swampland alone could not erase. A major result of the Swamp Land Act in Oregon was the withholding of arable land and water rights from actual settlers in the predominantly semiarid regions of Oregon by land speculators and by cattle barons who used it to monopolize vast tracts of grazing land. Litigation over disputed swampland claims occurred well into the twentieth century. Because little has been written on this topic, primary sources have been extensively relied upon for the research. The most important of these sources were the Portland Oregonian, government documents of the state of Oregon, and the documents of the United States Department of Interior.

This thesis seeks to define the American President's role as legislative leader and to trace the origin and development of that role throughout the history of the office of the presidency. Presidents were not consistently active in this capacity until the middle of the twentieth century. The first part of the thesis examines precedents set by strong presidents prior to and early in the twentieth century, as well as an important institutional change in the government, the creation of the Budget System, which smoothed the way for Presidential adoption of the tasks of legislative leader. The middle sections of the work examine the three American Presidents who fully adopted and institutionalized the role of legislative leader within the presidency, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and [)wight Eisenhower. Finally, the conclusions section examines the implications of presidential adoption of this role in the American system of government with respect to the balance between the President and the Congress. Research for this paper consisted of careful examination of primary sources, books and periodicals covering the history of the presidency, as well as examination of political commentary on the office and many of its occupants. In addition, communication with the Office of Legislative Reference in the Executive Office of the President provided helpful information.

By birth, education, and association, Henry Cabot Lodge belonged to an established New England tradition of attention to history and respect for historical writing. He lived during troubled times, and he realized, as his writings indicate, that America was rapidly changing, that old habits were disappearing, and that powerful new forces were at work in the nation and the world. How Lodge reacted to these circumstances is reflected, in part, in his historical writing. This thesis is an examination of Lodge's historiographic efforts. It is an attempt, through an analysis of style and predominant themes, to describe the cultural values that lie behind simple historical narrative.

By examining the attack waged against the royal prerogative during the Exclusion Crisis of 1678-1681, this thesis asserts that the crisis was primarily constitutional in nature, rather than religious. This Parliamentary attempt to remove the Catholic heir presumptive from the succession endangered the monarchy by creating a Parliamentary title to the throne. Insofar as the exclusionists challenged the king's right to retain ministers at will, to grant pardons, and to determine the calling and dissolution of Parliamentary sessions, the crisis also constituted a direct assault upon the prerogatives of the present king. The implementation of Parliament's proposal to guarantee a Protestant succession by arrogating to a Protestant Association many rights of the monarch would have tipped permanently the scales of power in favor of Parliament. The Exclusion Crisis can thus be viewed as an important, albeit abortive, attempt to better define the unresolved roles of the king and Parliament in the governing of England.

The essay charts forty years of Zionist history to illuminate the remarkable evolution of Israel's unified, apolitical army and Israel's "democratic civil-military tradition," forged in the fires of opposing military styles, ideological rivalry, competing underground forces, war and civil war.

In the study of Oregon politics, the importance of developments in the early twentieth century have been largely overlooked by popular historians. As a result, many have lost the perspective of the sweeping reforms that reformers presented to Oregon's electorate. Another complicating factor is that voters dealing with the issues during the period had such disparaging attitudes towards some of the reforms, that no thought was given to preserving their memory for future generations. In addition, the personal papers of W. S. U'Ren, Oregon's leading reformer, are not available. This makes perspective even more difficult. Therefore, the research problem is basically attempting to place all the proposed reforms in perspective with one another and arriving at an idea of exactly what the reformers had in mind. The data used for the thesis, W. S. U'Ren and the Fight For Gov­ernment Reform and the Single Tax: 1908-1912, was found in the personal papers of George Chamberlain, in newspapers, pamphlets, other theses, and official Oregon State publications. George Chamberlain's papers are found in the Oregon Historical Society, and provide valuable in-sight into the election year of 1908. The use of newspapers presented a problem, because many of them were antagonistic toward U'Ren's efforts. To balance the view, the Oregon City Courier was closely scrutinized because it was the most objective in dealing with reformer's proposals. Pamphlets were found in the Multnomah County Library, the Oregon Historical Society Library, and in the Oregon State Library. They provided insights into the thinking of both reformers and counter­-reformers. Both the pamphlets and the newspapers, especially the Courier, aided in sensing the mood of people. The Oregon Grange yielded information on the mood of farmers, an important part of the electorate, through records of state Grange sessions. The theses, found in the Oregon Historical Society, that contained interviews with people who worked with U'Ren were the most valuable. Records of the legislature and the tax commission, found in the Oregon State Library, were of importance in gaining a view of the opposition to reform. W. S. U'Ren presented reforms which, if carried out, would have greatly altered Oregon government and economy. In studying them, they appear to be workable, while placing more power in the hands of the people. Whether they actually would work is impossible to know. The study does point to a sweeping program that the reformers had in mind that would have given every individual the opportunity to develop to the highest possible point, while eliminating crime and poverty. The inference is given that if Oregon adopted all the tax and governmental reforms that the reformers presented, the entire nation would follow the example. At that time, there was a widespread belief that as Oregon went, so went the nation. Oregon's electorate only went part of the way with W. S. U'Ren and his supporters. The greatest factor in this is that money and corruption persuaded Oregon's farmers that the reforms would make them slaves to the government. This was simply not the objective of the reformers. In fact, the opposite was true. They wanted to free farmers from control by business and government.

This thesis attempts to ascertain whether Upton Sinclair's Democratic nomination for governor of California in 1934 caused the resurgence of the Democratic Party in California, or whether his nomination was a product of that party's resurgence between 1928 and 1942. Given Sinclair's decision on the unsuitability of the Socialist Party, were his judgments that: (1) the Democratic Party was in resurgence and, (2) it was moving to the left, sound ones? To make these determinations the thesis investigates why Sinclair rushed to capture the Democratic nomination, exploring his methods and techniques and those used to defeat him. It also examines the reactions of the Democratic Party leaders of the right and left wings toward the Sinclair candidacy, and analyzes the primary and general.election returns -- citing differences and similarities between Northern and Southern California -- which predicate that Sinclair's decision was: (I) based on faulty judgement, and (2) based on an inaccurate appraisal of the position of the Democratic Party.