Diss. sc. pol. Bern, 1954.

The United States emerged from the destruction of World War II a superpower with burgeoning global interests. Nowhere was this more evident than in Iraq. US policymakers greatly expanded their relationship with the pro-Western regime in Baghdad during the 1950s. To examine these trends more closely, this dissertation analyzes the American relationship with Iraq during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953 to 1961). This study discusses how American oil concessions, military aid programs, collective defense arrangements, and modernization initiatives shaped the US-Iraqi bilateral relationship of the 1950s. It also looks intensively at American intelligence assessments and covert action programs in Iraq in this period. An in-depth examination of the Eisenhower administration’s policies vis-à-vis Baghdad offers important lessons about the ways US officials understood and navigated complex political developments in the Middle East. In addition, this dissertation considers US strategies in Iraq in the context of ongoing developments in Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Iran, and elsewhere in the region. This transnational lens yields fascinating insights into how American interests throughout the Middle East influenced US policies in Iraq. As with their partners in the Iraqi government, American officials privileged the pursuit of “order” and “stability” in Baghdad. When confronted with the prospect of “unrest” in Iraq, the Eisenhower administration decisively supported its Iraqi allies’ moves to clamp down on political dissent. The United States worked energetically to control Iraqi developments in channels favourable to US interests. However, the regime led by Abdel Karim Qasim fundamentally transformed the patterns of the US-Iraqi relationship following the July 1958 Iraqi Revolution. Qasim’s program calling for the “Iraqification” of national economic resources collided with larger American understandings of Washington’s power in Baghdad. The Eisenhower administration proved unable to control the disorderly nature of revolutionary rule in Iraq, suggesting (as with the pre-revolutionary period) the tangible limits to American power in Iraq and the Middle East in this critical period of the Cold War.

While serving as the Presidential Envoy to Iraq, historians, journalists, and students alike became acquainted with Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III for the first time. Those same observers judged Ambassador Bremer’s work and effectiveness, without knowing anything about his previous career and how his prior experiences shaped his intellectual growth as a Foreign Service Officer. Therefore, this thesis effectively serves as an opportunity for observers of the Iraq War and historians to put the fourteen months Ambassador Bremer served in Iraq into a greater context. The Thesis tracks his early Foreign Service postings, through his enormous impact on the Cold War as Ambassador to the Netherlands, up through the bi-partisan report that he chaired, which is sometimes referred to as the “Bremer Report.” His career before Iraq allowed him to gain experience in diplomacy, studying terrorism, and preparing himself intellectually to understand and attempt to solve problems in different areas of the world and different sectors within government and out. Additionally, the Thesis discusses two issues during Ambassador Bremer’s time in Iraq. One of the issues, based on interviews with each party, re-explains the nature of the relationship between Ambassador Bremer and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. This discussion also presents evidence as to why difficulties at the time did exist, although the overall nature of them have been greatly exaggerated. Lastly, the Thesis discusses the decision to disband the Iraqi Army, and attempts to place that decision in the context of Ambassador Bremer’s prior career and decision making. / text

Many British and American critics have argued that the wartime 'Special Relationship' ended after World War H. Britain, buffeted by postwar shocks such as the end of Lend-Lease and atomic sharing, and by the lack of U. S. support during the Suez Crisis, felt increasingly demoted from its status as a great power, which had formerly been consulted by U. S. leaders on all matters of international importance. Despite those early post-war political dismissals, the USAF and the RAF began a Cold War linkage, which grew into a fifty-year association that was closer than any comparable defence relationship between nations. This work explores that unique relationship and argues that it grew even stronger through decades of mid-level air diplomacy clearly visible in the agreements and arrangements for U. S. Air Power in the United Kingdom. Its conclusions shed new light on the Anglo-American relationship and demonstrate the importance of air power in the diplomatic history of the two nations. It adds substance to the thin body of knowledge of air diplomacy, through an analysis of events, policies, agreements, arrangements, disagreements, and issues, which led to an even stronger transatlantic defence relationship that continues to serve both nations' interests

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1990. / Supervised by William Hubbard. / This thesis is about the design of a hypothetical national institution called the American Institute. The Institute consists of a presidential library and archive, a somewhat scholarly center for national debate, and a museum for the public presentation of critical national issues. Included in the program are facilities for large public symposia. A site for the Institute was located in the Fort Washington National Park on the Potomac River south of Washington, D.C. Beginning with a program invented to reflect a clear historical circumstance, this thesis attempts to draw multiple design rationale from a mixture of projected physical needs and social and political ideals. These rationale then lead directly to a design philosophy that guides the subsequent building design. Without the use of any conscious formal historical reference, the design asserts itself as uniquely representative of a national spirit, evoking the mood of the United States during the tenure of an imaginary presidency, and satisfies physical needs through a clear organization. The thesis is presented in three parts. First the hypothetical historical condition is presented and the building needs that result from the condition. Secondly, the philosophy derived from both physical need and political ideals is described. Finally, the American Institute is presented, described both in physical terms and in terms of the possible social and political understandings implied in the final design. / by David Scott McCullough. / M.Arch.

This paper will examine the history of international accounting that eventually led to the adoption of IFRS in the European Union. It will have an in depth analysis of IFRS and what it may mean for the United States should there be an adoption or a convergence. It will also comment on what needs to be considered in the convergence or adoption process.

Bankruptcy is a negative event that not only affects the company in question but all stakeholders of society. Our research will focus on one stakeholder group, business competitors. How are competitors affected by bankruptcy announcements? Past research has tried to answer this question in different ways. Some compared two industries with different characteristics while others worked with multiple industries. Past researchers suggested and tested three independent variables that they thought influence the returns of competitors in the face of bankruptcy: leverage, size and industry concentration. We adopt a different perspective when researching this topic in that we focus on competitors that are close to the bankrupt firm (business competitors) as opposed to using all competitors in an industry. The purpose of our research is to investigate if a chapter 11 bankruptcy announcement has an influence on business competitors within the same economic sector during the time horizon 2004-2012. In order to explore this topic, we incorporate three independent variables: economic sector concentration, firm leverage and firm size, to study if different characteristics of different economic sectors and firms would affect the bankruptcy announcement effect. Based on the quantitative method, our research utilized secondary data to study the relationships between the three independent variables and bankruptcy announcement effect on competitors. We found that the best way to carry out this research is by using a deductive approach and quantitative method. The results of our research showed weak correlations between the three variables and the bankruptcy announcement effect, among which the concentration was the most determinant variable and size has the weakest effect. For both concentration and firm size, we found inverse relationships between these two variables and abnormal returns of the business competitors. The abnormal returns earned by the high leveraged firms were less than the low leveraged ones. The conclusions of our research were that the chapter 11 bankruptcy announcement indeed influence the stock returns of business competitors. The firms in highly concentrated economic sectors had contagion effect while competitive effect happened to the firms in low concentrated ones. The same conclusion was drawn in terms of the firm size. For the leverage, there was no conclusion regarding the contagion or competitive effect as the results were inconclusive.

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The distributions, variations, and abundances of the 45 species of amphibians and reptiles found in southwestern New England (USA) are described and analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques. These data are compared to historical information contained in museums and literature reports. Activity and reproductive parameters are described and compared to published data from other areas of North America. The conservation status of each species is discussed, and where appropriate, recovery strategies proposed.

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