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

Smith, Simon C.

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). 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