Abstract
Even as a recognized leader in the select but important field of ME territorial questions, this was a difficult collection to devise and formulate. The publication covers a seminal decade in the modern history of the Arabian Peninsula/Persian Gulf region as hugely important questions needed to be addressed during a rather abrupt and, dare I say it, slipshod decolonization process – the would-be protégé statelets had to territorialise quickly in advance of the end of Pax Britannica but were ensnared in all sorts of resource and definitional complications that Britain had barely begun to contemplate, never mind resolve. Understanding this period is crucial to appreciating how certain disputes evolved as a critical factor in the outbreak of violent conflict in the northern Gulf at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s and how the continuance of certain others further south today actively preclude greater cooperation across Gulf waters and even between Arabian states themselves. Surprisingly, this record remains little known and under-represented. I redress this position with this publication.
The British Government record dissected here moves through three distinct stages – 1) with Britain as an overstretched, cash-poor colonial power trying to simultaneously foster a resilient regional collective identity (which it termed Gulfery) but one that was sympathetic to accommodating massive Western economic interests – all the time trying to fend off suspicions that it was about to cut and run; 2) once the cat was out of the bag (with its announcement to decolonise in early 1968), departments of the British government had to debate the degree to which they could be pragmatic and let sleeping dogs lie – while Britain knew it had to do something about certain disputes (i.e., Iran-UAE), it calculated that it (along with British interests) could ultimately live with other difficult questions remaining unresolved (e.g., SA-UAE); 3) stripped of their formal regional responsibilities from December 1971, Britain’s seasoned diplomats could be more candid and detached in their assessment of Arabian geopolitical/territorial questions – while they no longer could pretend to be at the control buttons, their huge experience, accumulated expertise and memory and unrivalled access meant that the British government record still remains an unsurpassed (if far from neutral) resource for studying disputes as they evolved and emerged during the 1970s.
The British Government record dissected here moves through three distinct stages – 1) with Britain as an overstretched, cash-poor colonial power trying to simultaneously foster a resilient regional collective identity (which it termed Gulfery) but one that was sympathetic to accommodating massive Western economic interests – all the time trying to fend off suspicions that it was about to cut and run; 2) once the cat was out of the bag (with its announcement to decolonise in early 1968), departments of the British government had to debate the degree to which they could be pragmatic and let sleeping dogs lie – while Britain knew it had to do something about certain disputes (i.e., Iran-UAE), it calculated that it (along with British interests) could ultimately live with other difficult questions remaining unresolved (e.g., SA-UAE); 3) stripped of their formal regional responsibilities from December 1971, Britain’s seasoned diplomats could be more candid and detached in their assessment of Arabian geopolitical/territorial questions – while they no longer could pretend to be at the control buttons, their huge experience, accumulated expertise and memory and unrivalled access meant that the British government record still remains an unsurpassed (if far from neutral) resource for studying disputes as they evolved and emerged during the 1970s.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | Cambridge |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Number of pages | 11000 |
| Volume | 1-18 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781840972405 |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 |
Keywords
- arabian boundaries
- territorial disputes
- decolonisation
- independence
- maritime disputes
- conflict resolution
- maps and treaties
- British government policy formulation
