Content area
Full text
The international relations literature on Arabism overwhelmingly views the behavior of Arab states through an instrumentalist lens. This article departs from this approach, arguing that Kuwait's Arabist foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s largely stemmed from its distinctive history, which produced a prevailing pan-Arabist current in society evident in the mainstream press and official discourse. A combined historical-sociological and constructivist approach is used to disentangle the relationship between history, identity, and foreign policy.
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)
In 1966, Kuwait's emir, Shaykh Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah (reigned 1965-77), visited Bahrain on an official tour of the Gulf states. Kuwait was then the only independent small Gulf monarchy, but signs pointed to an imminent British departure from the region as a whole. During a reception in his honor, Shaykh Sabah was surprised by how much the young Bahraini ruler (hakim), Shaykh 'Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa (r. 1961-99), attended to British officials. Shaykh Sabah later met with Shaykh 'Isa privately to advise him "as father to his son." Irritated, Shaykh 'Isa subsequently informed the British what Kuwait's emir told him:
Why . . . did he (the Ruler) pay so much obvious respect to the British? Why . . . did he walk down the meglis [i.e., majlis or meeting room] to greet first the Political Agent and then the Political Resident? . . . Why did he place the Political Resident next to the [e]mir both before and during the dinner? Why was the British Commandant of Police present at the dinner? Why did the Police guard of honour at the airport use English words of command, and why did cars in Bahrain drive on the left-hand side of the road, when everywhere else in the Arab world they drive on the right?1
This anecdote displays a critical difference between the outlooks of the Kuwaiti and Bahraini monarchs. While the former was perplexed by the latter's deference to a colonial power, the Bahraini ruler informed the British "that he was deeply upset and incensed by this attack from the [Kuwaiti e]mir. The British were his friends and he was not ashamed to show it." This encounter also reveals how the Kuwaiti emir thought an Arab ruler should behave. During the meeting, Shaykh...