British bordering practices in the Middle East before Sykes-Picot: giving an edge to zones

TY - JOUR

T1 - British bordering practices in the Middle East before Sykes-Picot

T2 - giving an edge to zones

AU - Schofield, Richard

N1 - RICHARD SCHOFIELD directs the Masters programme in Geopolitics, Territory and Security in the Department of Geography at King’s College London. Richard founded the well-regarded academic journal Geopolitics in 1996 and co-founded the London International Boundary Conference (whose most recent convention was during June 2017). He has written extensively about boundaries and territorial questions in the Middle East and has served as adviser in many negotiated, arbitrated or adjudicated boundary cases ([Bahrain/Qatar, Israel/Jordan, Saudi/Yemen]), also as an expert witness before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the 2008-2009 Abyei case (Government of Sudan vs. SPLM/A)

PY - 2018/6/15

Y1 - 2018/6/15

N2 - The significance of the Sykes-Picot territorial system of mandated territories has been both overplayed and somewhat misplaced on its centenary over the last year or so. This article reviews the legacy of Britain’s bordering practices in the Middle East in the period before World War One, arguing that its importance should not be underestimated. It shows how the British Home and India governments began to think in terms of lines and zones on land and sea during the nineteenth century and how, with an intensifying Ottoman challenge in three corners of Arabia at the turn of the twentieth century, there was a perceived need to define edges to spatial zones. This account concentrates upon two of these corners – in Yemen and Kuwait.

AB - The significance of the Sykes-Picot territorial system of mandated territories has been both overplayed and somewhat misplaced on its centenary over the last year or so. This article reviews the legacy of Britain’s bordering practices in the Middle East in the period before World War One, arguing that its importance should not be underestimated. It shows how the British Home and India governments began to think in terms of lines and zones on land and sea during the nineteenth century and how, with an intensifying Ottoman challenge in three corners of Arabia at the turn of the twentieth century, there was a perceived need to define edges to spatial zones. This account concentrates upon two of these corners – in Yemen and Kuwait.

KW - Bordering practices, Arabia, Persian Gulf, Buffer Zones, Anglo-Ottoman Territorial Confrontation

U2 - 10.4000/ema.4279

DO - 10.4000/ema.4279

M3 - Article

VL - 18

SP - 149

EP - 161

JO - Egypte/Monde Arabe

JF - Egypte/Monde Arabe

IS - 2

ER -