Territorial Foundations of the Gulf States

Based on expert analysis by leading researchers, this book, first published in 1994, deals with the origins and contemporary status of land and maritime boundaries in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula. The 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was the gravest challenge yet posed to the system of small states established by Britain. Immediately, questions were raised: How had this territorial framework evolved? What was its raison d’être? How capable was it of withstanding serious internal and external upheaval? This book reviews these and related concerns from a variety of informed perspectives: those of the boundary-maker, international lawyer, oil economist, and political and historical geographer.