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The business of decolonization: The foreign office, British business, and the end of empire in Kuwait and Qatar

Smith, Simon C.

Authors



Contributors

John Fisher
Editor

Effie G.H. Pedaliu
Editor

Richard Smith
Editor

Abstract

The Gulf States, while small in size, were of increasing economic and financial significance to the British economy in the post-war period. While the loss of India in 1947 reduced the strategic importance of the Gulf, this was more than compensated for by the exponential growth in oil production in states such as Kuwait and Qatar, the focus of this chapter. The transfer of responsibility for British relations with the Gulf States from the defunct India Office to the Foreign Office in 1948 left the Foreign Office with the task of managing the challenges and opportunities associated with the advent of oil wealth in the Gulf.

Citation

Smith, S. C. (2016). The business of decolonization: The foreign office, British business, and the end of empire in Kuwait and Qatar. In J. Fisher, E. G. Pedaliu, & R. Smith (Eds.), The Foreign Office, Commerce and British Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century (381-399). London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46581-8_17

Online Publication Date Feb 17, 2017
Publication Date Jan 1, 2016
Deposit Date Apr 27, 2022
Publisher Palgrave Macmillan
Pages 381-399
Book Title The Foreign Office, Commerce and British Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century
ISBN 9781137465801
DOI https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46581-8_17
Keywords Foreign Office; Kuwait; Gulf States; British firms; Musaddiq
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3628143