In 1967, a decline in the use of military interventions by major world powers undermined international contract enforcement and increased the expropriation risk in many developing countries. Using data from the oil and gas industry, we document that this change caused backloading - a delay in investment, production and taxation - just as predicted by the theory of self-enforcing agreements. The delay peaked at five years right after 1967 and vanished as the firm-government relationship matured.