From the Coast of Oman to the United Arab Emirates (1952-1971): Attempting to Federate the Emirates

Abstract

Abstract

The thesis examines the process of state formation of the only surviving federal state in the Arab world: the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It tries to answer questions related to the historical circumstances leading to the federation; the respective role of the British officials and the local rulers in it; and the methods and strategies employed by the rulers of these Emirates during the negotiations leading to the formation of the federation to preserve their local status and power while bridging the gaps between them and establishing a viable state. It argues that, of the main sets of political players at the time (the British officials and the local rulers), it was the interaction among the rulers that led to the successful outcome of announcing the new state. Even during the successive negotiations to establish unions, the rulers of the Emirates did not differ over the forming of a larger state; however they did disagree on their influence over decision-making institutions within the new state. Therefore, it was the recognition by the rulers of each other’s power and the value of their potential contribution to the future union that determined the issue of the negotiations and the inclusion or exclusion of a particular ruler from the union. The ambition of this research is to contribute to the literature on federal state formation in the post-colonial world, with a particular emphasis on the process, the forces, and the avenues leading to the merging of various components into one political entity. It relies on newly-released British official documents and the increasing availability of personal accounts (books, articles and memoirs) by individuals who participated in the negotiations, giving new tools to investigate various aspects of the social, economic and political factors associated with the formation of the state on the Coast of Oman.