Britain and State Formation in Arabia 19621971: From Aden to Abu Dhabi

by Clive Jones (Editor)

• New

  Paperback
  2019

  $49.45

  Half a century ago, Britain abandoned Aden, its last colonial outpost in the Arab world as its

  
  
  

  attempt to establish a new polity foundered amid a rising tide of Arab nationalism, tribal

  
  
  

  infighting and anti-colonial sentiment that eventually gave rise to the establishment of

  
  
  

  South Yemen. Yet just over three years later in 1971, a new state, the United Arab Emirates,

  
  
  

  emerged in Arabia, formed from the old Trucial states over which Britain had long held

  
  
  

  sway. At a time when state failure and fragmentation has become synonymous with much

  
  
  

  of the Middle East and where the very idea of sovereignty and legitimacy have become

  
  
  

  contested issues, this comparative historical study of the varied British attempts at state

  
  
  

  creation on the Arabian peninsula offers important insights into the limits of external ambition,

  
  
  

  as well as the possibilities that great power retrenchment offered to the peoples of the

  
  
  

  region. The legacy of British influence in Aden and Abu Dhabi still very much resonates

  
  
  

  today; this volume explains why.

  
  
  

  This book was originally published as a special issue of Middle Eastern Studies.