Islands And International Politics In The Persian Gulf

The position of the Persian Gulf as the main highway between East and West has long given this region special significance both within the Middle East and in global affairs more generally. This book examines the history of international relations in the Gulf since the 1820s as great powers such as Britain and the US, and regional powers such as Iran and Iraq, vied for supremacy over this geopolitically vital region. It focuses on the struggle for control over the islands of the Gulf, in particular the three islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb – an issue that remains highly contentious today. It describes how for 170 years Britain eroded Iranian influence in the Gulf, both directly by asserting colonial rule over Iranian islands and port districts, and also through claiming Iranian islands for their protégés on the Arab littoral. It shows how, after Britain's withdrawal, these islands became a pawn in the animosity and conflict that pitted, at one time, Arab radicals and nationalists against monarchical Iran, and, later, the conservative-moderate Arab camp against Islamic Iran. It goes on to explore the impact of the rise of American power in the Gulf since the start of the 1990s, its policy of containment of Iran and Iraq, and how this has provided encouragement to the ambitions of the Persian Gulf Arab littoral states, especially the UAE, towards the islands of the Gulf.

For much of the contemporary history of the Middle East, the Persian Gulf has stood at the center of the region’s strategic significance. At the same time, the Gulf has been wracked by political instability and tension. As far back as the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Britain zeroed in on the Persian Gulf as a critical passageway to its crown jewel, India, and entered into protectorate agreements with local ruling families, thus bestowing on them international legitimacy and, eventually, the resources and support necessary to ascend to kingships. Today, the region is undergoing profound changes that range from rapid economic and infrastructural development to tumultuous social and cultural transformations. Far from eroding the area’s political significance, these changes have only accentuated rivalries and tensions and have brought to the forefront new challenges to international security and stability. Together, the essays in this volume present a comprehensive, detailed, and accessible account of the international politics of the region. Focusing on the key factors that give the Persian Gulf its strategic significance, contributors look at the influence of vast deposits of oil and natural gas on international politics, the impact of the competing centers of power of Iran and Saudi Arabia, the nature of relationships among countries within the Persian Gulf, and the evolving interaction between Islam and politics. Throughout the collection, issues of internal and international security are shown to be central. Drawing on the comprehensive knowledge and experience of experts in the region, The International Politics of the Persian Gulf shines a bright light on this area, offering insights and thoughtful analyses on the critical importance of this troubled region to global politics.

Gregory Gause's masterful book is the first to offer a comprehensive account of the international politics in the Persian Gulf across nearly four decades. The story begins in 1971 when Great Britain ended its protectorate relations with the smaller states of the lower Gulf. It traces developments in the region from the oil 'revolution' of 1973–4 through the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war and the Gulf war of 1990–1 to the toppling of Saddam Hussein in the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, bringing the story of Gulf regional politics up to 2008. The book highlights transnational identity issues, regime security and the politics of the world oil market, and charts the changing mix of interests and ambitions driving American policy. The author brings his experience as a scholar and commentator on the Gulf to this riveting account of one of the most politically volatile regions on earth.

The Gulf Islands Dispute offers an international law analysis of the conflict between Iran and the UAE over ownership of three Gulf islands. The conclusions reached are based on centuries of Gulf history and challenge the positions of both parties.

"Small Islands, Big Politics examines a territorial dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates over the ownership and control of the Tonbs, three small islands in the Persian Gulf overlooking the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Since 1971, the year British colonialism withdrew from the region, Iran has regained full sovereignty over the Tonbs and has accommodated the UAE in the administration of Abu Musa. Small Islands, Big Politics provides a close reading of the legal and relevant territorial-historical dimensions of the dispute and dissects the intricacies of international law and its application to other territorial disputes in the region. Small Islands, Big Politics is the first book-length analysis of the issue in the English language and will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in Middle East/Persian Gulf politics, history, and international studies. The book also includes a comprehensive bibliography and key documents relating to the issues."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Provocatively written, persuasively researched and conclusively argued, Adib-Moghaddam presents the first comprehensive analysis of international relations in the Gulf from a mutidisciplinary perspective.

The first major study of the origin of the Gulf naming dispute and its evolution over millennia to the present.

This book magnifies only one instance of Iran’s geopolitical role in the Persian Gulf in the interim period between the British withdrawal of forces from, and the American arrival in that region. Two centuries of Pax-Britannica was the period of territorial organization of the region, which resulted in the creation of a number of small states or emirates defining territories and boundaries for which caused huge territorial complications with the older states of the region. Pax-Britannica was removed at the end of 1971 without settling these difficult issues. Yet, immediately after their departure from the Persian Gulf, Iran began the initiative of settling territorial differences among the littoral states. Negotiations for the delimitation of maritime boundaries in the Persian Gulf which started in 1968 with Saudi Arabia continued with each and every Arab state of the region and by the mid-1970s all maritime boundaries of Iran with her Arab neighbours were settled, including legal settlement of the issue of the islands extensively examined in this book. In 1975, the age-old Iran-Iraq territorial and boundary disputes were settled in Shatt al Arab, and in the same year Iran's initiative of settling territorial disputes went beyond the region of the Persian Gulf and the Shah quelled the fire of separatist movements in Dhufar of Oman as well as intervening in Egyptian Israeli disputes and settle their differences over the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli author, Samuel Segev admits in his 1981 publications on Israeli secret relations in the Middle East that "The Shah was the originator of the idea to mediate between Anwar Sadat and Golda Meir." Another instance of the Iranian endeavour to safeguard Arab territorial integrity was Iran's undertaking in eradication of threats to Oman's territorial integrity in the early 1970s. Within three years Iranian soldiers defended with their lives Oman's territorial integrity in Dhufar Province in the face of a fierce communist separatist movement that British forces could not eradicate in twelve years.