The British Empire in India,the Gulf pearl and the making of the Middle East

Abstract

Genealogies of the term ‘Middle East’ conventionally focus on a juncture around the 1890s, when it gained new geopolitical currency, promoted by various European and American officials with reference to a space centred around the Arabo-Persian Gulf. This article argues instead that the ‘Middle East’ label should be seen as the culmination of a longer process, led less from London than from India. Over the previous century, this consolidation of ‘British’ India as a distinct regional actor was accompanied by the conceptualisation of its borderlands, including that Gulf-centred space. This space become a theatre for economic and political monitoring strategised from India, seeking to transform what was represented as a pirate-infested margin into a pacified buffer zone. Control and exploitation of pearl fisheries, the main economic activity for Gulf populations, was central to these efforts. Imperial strategy around the Gulf pearl was a key tool in founding an informal Indian empire in the Gulf and its hinterlands, in that very space to which the name ‘Middle East’ would subsequently be given.     

东亚意识与东亚秩序

东亚意识的内涵包括共有的价值观念和共有的利益观念.东亚意识有两个主要的功能:"我们性"的认同和东亚意识的社会化.未来东亚社会秩序的构建根本上取决于东亚意识的社会化程度、中日关系的和谐发展和美国在东亚的影响力.东亚认同还处于萌芽状态,日本在历史问题上的"清算意识"还很缺乏,美国的经济和军事实力还将在东亚长期存在.因此,可以预见,东亚意识的社会化将会经历一个曲折复杂的过程,新的东亚社会秩序也不会在短期内实现.但是一个高度认同,以中日关系、东北亚和东南亚和谐发展为特征的新的东亚社会秩序将会为未来东亚地区的和平发展带来持久的动力,因此,东亚国家应该为实现这一目标共同努力.     

Hedging Strategies of the Middle Powers in East Asian Security: the Cases of South Korea and Malaysia

Many middle powers in East Asia—particularly South Korea and Malaysia—are affected by the strategic relationship between the USA (hereafter the USA) and China. Therefore, I would like to examine the strategic behaviors of the middle powers in East Asia from a hedging strategy perspective. The hedging strategy extends the logic of the traditional balance of power theory while maintaining a strong emphasis on structural incentives, which critics have found lacking in the soft balance approach. Most East Asian states have calibrated their security measures and strategies in response to the changing US-China relationship. The purpose of this article is to compare the hedging strategies of South Korea and Malaysia, which are middle powers, that affect the East Asian security order. This article, thus, aims not simply to explain specific instances of the hedging strategies of middle powers but also, based on this theoretical foundation, to establish a new frame of analysis for the hedging strategies of middle powers through objective and critical assessment.     

Middle East

The author argues that military rule has never been good for Pakistan. Historically it has not helped the fight against extremism, On the contrary, the generals’ search for some sort of legitimacy has tended to give encouragement to militant Islam. Certainly, the democratic road has been difficult in many countries, but there is no alternative. It is the only road for Pakistan. The West should not give support to anti-democratic forces under the mistaken belief that they can provide firm government.     

Political Succession in the Middle East

The following briefs were presented in a workshop on "Political Succession in the Middle East" at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, September 1, 2001, in San Francisco. Louis J. Cantori, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Augustus Richard Norton, Boston University, were the conveners of the Conference Group on the Middle East, which issued this report.     

Britain and the Middle East

The address that follows was given before a joint meeting ofthe Royal African Society and the Royal Commonwealth Societyon December 4 1958. Mr. Richard Goold- Adams took the Chair     

Japan and the Middle East

Hirokazu Oikawa, a correspondent in Israel for Jiji News for nearly 20 years and former lecturer and fellow at Hebrew University, discusses the history of relations between Japan and the Middle East and shows how Japan's relative ignorance of the region has affected some crucial diplomatic and domestic policy decisions. He explains that potential misperceptions about the Middle East continue among Japanese policymakers, especially in the areas of energy policy and official‐development aid (ODA). Oikawa is currently a professor at Kyorin University in Tokyo.