Copyright by Kristi Nichole Barnwell 2011 The Dissertation Committee for Kristi Nichole Barnwell Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: From Trucial States to Nation State: Decolonization and the Formation of the United Arab Emirates, 1952-1971 Committee: Wm. Roger Louis, Supervisor Kamran S. Aghaie Clement Henry Antony G. Hopkins Abraham Marcus From Trucial States to Nation State: Decolonization and the Formation of the United Arab Emirates, 1952-1971 by Kristi Nichole Barnwell, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2011 Dedication For my mother Acknowledgements I am indebted to countless people who provided direct and indirect aid while I researched and wrote this dissertation. People across three continents helped in myriad ways, both direct and indirect, to bring this project to fruition. The staff at The National Archive in Kew and at the Gulf Research Center at the University of Exeter were an enormous source of help and knowledge. Additionally, the library staff at the Center for Documentation and Research welcomed me, provided me with a quiet space to work, and copied hundreds of pages for me without complaint. I would like to offer special thanks to Dr. Jassim Jirjees and Dr. Jayanti Maitra al-Hajji for their help and interest in my work. Many thanks to Robin Dougherty, the Middle East librarian at the University of Texas, for the books and the chocolate. This dissertation would not have come into being if it had not been for the suggestion of my advisor, Wm. Roger Louis. It was he who first suggested the general topic, he who encouraged my research, and he who carefully read and commented on my chapters as I wrote them. His guidance and support kept me moving forward throughout my too-long graduate career and I am grateful for his continued encouragement. Several other mentors went above and beyond their usual duties as members of my dissertation committee. Kamran Aghaie served as a constant source of encouragement as well as a formidable devil‘s advocate throughout my graduate career. With him, I honed my answers for those who would ask, ―Why work on the UAE?‖ I v also am grateful to Clement Henry for his enthusiasm for my research topic. Our conversations always led me down new avenues of inquiry and his contributions helped to make my dissertation a richer study. Mary Wilson served as my mentor at the University of Massachusetts and guided me toward graduate studies in Middle Eastern History. She was the first of my professors to demonstrate interest in me and my work as an undergraduate. Mary is the kind of teacher and mentor I strive to be. Additional thanks go to: Antony Hopkins, Abraham Marcus, Peter Shapinsky, Hina Azam, James Onley, Steven Wright, Hanan Hamad, Somy Kim, Nora Eltahawy, Lauren Apter, Stefanie Wichart, Marian Barber, Ann Genova, and Roy Doron. Jane Bristol-Rhys deserves particular mention. She helped me—a stranger in a strange land—to navigate the pitfalls of research in the Emirates, to find my voice as a writer, and to become a scholar of the Gulf. She is also much more: a generous and kind friend. Thank you for the JITC marathons. My family members provided a non-academic oasis to which I could escape in times of great stress. Of those, my mother deserves the most thanks for being my number one fan and loudest cheerleader. It is for these reasons that I dedicate this work to her. vi From Trucial States to Nation State: Decolonization and the Formation of the United Arab Emirates, 1952-1971 Kristi Nichole Barnwell, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2011 Supervisor: Wm. Roger Louis Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister, announced in January 1968 that the British government would withdraw from the Persian Gulf by the end of 1971. For Britain, the decision indicated a re-prioritization of British global defense obligations. For the rulers of the Arab emirates of the Persian Gulf, Wilson‘s announcement signaled an end of British military protection, and the beginning of a process of negotiations that culminated in the establishment of the United Arab Emirates on December 3, 1971. An examination of the process by which the individual Persian Gulf states became a sovereign federation presents an opportunity to examine the roles of nationalism and anti- imperialism played in the establishment of the Union. This work demonstrates that Arab rulers in the Persian Gulf strove to establish their new state with close ties to Great Britain, which provided technical, military, and administrative assistance to the emirates, while also publicly embracing the popular ideologies of anti-imperialism and Arab socialism, which dominated the political discourse in the Arab world through most of the twentieth century. vii This dissertation draws on primary source materials from British and American government archives, speeches and government publications from the Arab Emirates, memoirs and a wide variety of secondary sources. These materials provide the basis for understanding the state-building process of the United Arab Emirates in the areas of pre- withdrawal development, the decision to withdraw, the problems of establishing a federal constitution, and the problems posed by the need for security in the post-withdrawal Persian Gulf. viii Table of Contents List of Tables ......................................................................................................... xi List of Figures ....................................................................................................... xii List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................... xiii Note on Transliteration ........................................................................................ xiv Chapter 1: Introduction ...........................................................................................1 The United Arab Emirates Today ...................................................................7 Chapter Structure ............................................................................................8 Comment on Sources ....................................................................................12 Chapter 2: Protected Status, 1820-1952................................................................19 The Arab Gulf Before the Trucial Agreements ............................................19 British Administration in the Arab Gulf States.............................................25 British Air and Oil Interests in the Arab Gulf...............................................32 Arab Nationalism and the Persian Gulf ........................................................38 Chapter 3: Development, 1952-1967 ....................................................................51 The Trucial States Council............................................................................53 Development and the Threat of Nationalism ................................................60 Excluding the Arab League ..........................................................................71 Another Overthrow .......................................................................................83 Chapter 4: Withdrawal, 1952-1968 .......................................................................89 Nationalism and East of Suez .......................................................................91 The Economics of East of Suez and the Gulf .............................................103 Coinciding Crises ........................................................................................110 The Decision ...............................................................................................119 Chapter 5: Federation, 1968-1971 ......................................................................120 The Origins of Federation: The British Perspective ...................................122 Arab Nationalism and Federation ...............................................................127 ix The Dubai Agreement, February 1968 .......................................................133 Maintaining the Regional Status Quo .........................................................140 A Federation of Seven ................................................................................150 Chapter 6: Security, 1951-1976 ..........................................................................155 The British Military Presence in the Arab Gulf ..........................................158 Local and Imperial Forces ..........................................................................163 From Aggressors to “Twin Pillars”.............................................................172 Chapter 7: Conclusion.........................................................................................179 Appendix A: The Provisional Constitution of the United Arab Emirates (English)183 Appendix B: The Provisional Constitution of the United Arab Emirates (Arabic)216 Appendix C: Rulers of the Trucial States from 1947-Present ............................267 Appendix D: Selection of British Officials, 1947-1971 .....................................270 Bibliography ........................................................................................................273 x List of Tables Table 1: Population Growth in the Trucial Coast in