Petroleum Policy and Mexican Domestic Politics: Left Opposition, Regional Dissidence, and Official Apostasy

The impact of the petroleum industry on oil-producing countries has frequently emphasized the intimate interconnection and reciprocal influences of economic and political change. The agony of contemporary Iran is a dramatic example, but only one of many that help prove the point. In Nigeria's recent history, the competition for control of petroleum resources was one factor instigating a brutal civil war. In Venezuela, a new era of constitutional stability flowed from an expanded economic base provided by petroleum export earnings. In the United States, the rise to national prominence of the Texas politicos reflected the economic changes that evolved from petroleum discoveries.