Foundations Of British Policy In The Arab World

Britain's role in the Middle East 1966-74 with special reference to Israel.

With intellectual rigor and careful attention to recently released papers, Wm. Roger Louis's study asks: Why did Britain's colonial empire begin to collapse in 1945 and how did the post-war Labour government attempt to sustain a vision of the old Empire through imperialism in the Middle East?

British attitudes towards Arab unity have frequently been a source of controversy in the Middle East. From the Treaty of Versailles to the end of World War II, and the withdrawal of Mandates from the region, British involvement in Arab affairs has been well-documented from the British perspective. But here, Younan Labib Rizk provides a coherent Arab perspective. His analysis reveals not only how British government policy developed in this period but also the different influences on policy-making and implementation – from the changing situation on the ground to the state of Anglo-French relations and the concerns of the Cairo and India offices. He shows how all these factors coincided to produce a policy, repeated across several British administrations, which was consistently hostile towards the notion of Arab unity. While this conforms to traditional Arab views of British policy in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, the importance of Rizk's work lies in his extensive and meticulous research into British archives, through which he documents British attitudes and motivations. As he quotes the internal correspondence between departments and individual officials in the Foreign Office and its Eastern Department, the Colonial Office and several British Cabinets, Rizk shows that divisions within the Arab world – of which there were plenty – were initially exacerbated by British officials, and eventually acquired their own dynamic. This book enhances our understanding of how the international politics of the region evolved during a critical phase in the modern history of the Middle East.

This text covers such recent developments as the growth of population, differing rates of industrialization, Egyptian-Israeli peace efforts, and the enormous impact of the ever-changing oil market on economic and political life. In addition, the book examines the rarely analyzed but significant cultural and religious developments that are crucial determinants of political patterns and includes statistics and information enabling Polk to re-evaluate and recast outmoded perceptions.