Book Review: Middle East, Empire by Treaty
| Date | 01 June 1965 |
| Author | David Cox |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000229 |
| Published date | 01 June 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
274
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
or
upheaval remains
it
will
slowly
modify
its
compelling
persuasion
and
permit
a
wider
view
to
find
some
expression.
It
is
certainly
too
early
to
expect
or
anticipate
any
such
development.
For
many
years
yet,
and
in
particular
so
long
as
China
feels
herself
defensively
arrayed
against
either
America
or
Russia,
or
perhaps
both,
the
need
to
impose
ideological
conformity
and universal participation
in
her
policies
will
seem
overriding.
Such
moods
of
national
conformity
are
familiar
to
the
Western nations,
for
short
periods
of
acute
stress,
such
as
great
wars:
in
later
years they
seem
in
retrospect
somewhat
puerile, and
far
from
objective,
but
in
the
period
of
real
danger
such
criticisms
would seem
disloyal
and
subversive. The
Chinese
certainly
believe
that
they
are
passing through
such
a
crisis,
and
their
government,
whatever
it
may
really anticipate,
is
determined
to
hold
them
to
this
belief
until
its
aims
are
accomplished.
An
assessment
of
this
force
for internal
cohesion
and
strength
is
as
necessary
as
an
objective
judgement
upon
China's
military
or nuclear
potential
for
the
policy
makers
of
the Western
world.
It
is
to
be
hoped
that
some of
them
will
find
time
to
read
this illuminating
and very
valuable
contribution to
our
knowledge
and
understanding
of
the
Peoples'
Republic.
University
of
British
Columbia
C.
P.
FiTZGERALD
Middle
East
EMPIRE
BY
TREATY.
Britain
and
the
Middle
East
in
the
Twentieth
Cen-
tury.
By
M.
A.
Fitzsimmons.
1964.
(Notre
Dame:
University
of
Notre
Dame Press.
x,
235pp.
$6.00)
Empire
by
Treaty
is
an
account
(it
is
properly
described
as
an
account
rather
than
as
analysis)
of
British
foreign
policy
in
the
Middle
East.
Its
title
is
intended
to
suggest
"the
characteristic form
of
British
relationship
with
many
Middle
Eastern
countries."
This
was
the
unequal
treaty
relationship,
a form
of
tutelage
which
permitted
Britain
to
consolidate
its
position in
the
Middle
East
after
1918
at
a
minimum
cost
financially,
and
without the
embarrassments
of
overt
colonial
rule.
The
author
contends
that
this
variant
of
colonialism-"a
significant
improvisation
of
British
empire"-was
a
useful
expedient, providing
Britain
with
the
concessions
and
bases
that
she
thought
necessary
to
safeguard
her
interests,
and
the
Arabs
with the
political, adminis-
trative
and
military
leadership
which
was essential
to
the
development
of
full-fledged
Arab
states.
Ironically,
the
zenith
of
British
influence
and
entrenchment
at
the
end
of
the
Second
World
War
coincided
with
its
decline
as
a
world
power, and
the
accelerated
development
of
Arab
nationalism.
The first
challenged
Britain's
claim
to
primacy
in
the
Middle
East;
the
second
led
to
the
repudiation
of
unequal
treaties.
The
combination
posed
problems
of diplomacy
which
Britain
was
unable
to
meet.
The
collapse
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