United Arab Emirates Enclaves: A Hybrid System of Tribal-Modern Boundaries
Keywords:
United Arab Emirates; tribes; enclaves; subnational-level exclaves; borders
Abstract
Political enclaves and exclaves are a rare phenomenon in the Arab World. Yet, there are ten enclaves and exclaves only in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These geopolitical features are a result of tribal affiliations that exceeded territorial contiguity, and they manifest the amalgamation of traditional settings and modern political order. This paper examines the historical conditions that created the enclave phenomenon in the discussed region and maintained them in the modern UAE. This analysis includes a theoretical discussion of territorial and border concepts in Bedouin societies, in addition to a historical examination of border-making processes in this region. The paper also analyses three selected subnational-level exclaves through empirical surveys of geographical and socio-economic factors and discusses their significance to their affiliated emirates. The study asserts that distinguished sociopolitical spaces were a common feature in the traditional tribal sphere. The border negotiation methods in this region were the main factor that enabled their preservation. It also argues that even though territorial enclaves are open to free movement, they manifest spatial segregation within small-scale spaces.
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Zahlan, R. S. (1978) The Origins of the United Arab Emirates: A Political and Social History of the Trucial States. London: Macmillan Press.
Alfarra, H. J. (2010) On growth: Kalba City of Sharjah - Final project of urban development and conservation (ENV3509).
Ajman Statistics and Competitiveness Center (2017) Population & Vital Statistics. https://scc.ajman.ae/en
Al-Mukhtar, A., & Al-Khouli, A. (2017, August 1) Ammar Al Nuaimi reviews current and future infrastructure projects in the Emirate of Ajman [Arabic]. WAM - Emirates News Agency. http://wam.ae/ar/details/1395302625519
Al-Qasimi, S. bin M. (1986) The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf. London: Routledge.
Al-Qasimi, S. bin M. (1999) Power Struggles and Trade in the Gulf:1620-1820. Exeter: University of Exeter Press.
Al-Shamlan, A. R. (1987) The evolution of national boundaries in the southeastern Arabian Peninsula: 1934-1955. PhD Dissertation, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan.
bin Taimur, S., & bin Humaid, R. (1959). Agreement signed by Said bin Taimur and Rashid bin Humaid in 4 Dhul Qa’da and 19 Dhul Qa’da 1378. FO 371/140134.
City-Facts (2015) City-facts: Kalba, United Arab Emirates. https://www.city-facts.com/kalba-united-arab-emirates
Dubai Statistics Center (2018) Population Bulletin. Government of Dubai. https://www.dsc.gov.ae/Publication/Population Bulletin Emirate of Dubai 2018.docx
Gause III, F. G. (1992) Sovereignty, statecraft and stability in the Middle East. Journal of International Affairs, 45, 2: 441–469.
Gottmann, J. (1975) The evolution of the concept of territory. Information (International Social Science Council), 14(3), 29–47.
H.M. Political Agent Dubai, Sir William Halcrow & Partners, C. E. (1965) Sketch map of water resources; with hydrological and groundwater survey: Trucial States. TNA, FO 1016/840.
Heard-Bey, F. (1982) From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates: A society in Transition. Harlow: Longman.
Hourani, A. (1969) Book review: Britian and the Persian Gulf 1795–1880. By JB Kelly. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968. Pp. 911. 10gns. The Historical Journal, 12(2), 374–375.
Hussein, H. "Sharjah Ruler inspects modern development projects in Kalba city". WAM - Emirates News Agency, 31 August 2021. https://wam.ae/en/details/1395302965585. Accessed July 1, 2022.
Joffe, G. (1994) Territory, state and nation in the Middle East and North Africa. In Schofield, C. & Schofield, R. (Eds.) World Boundaries (Vol. 2). London: Routledge, p. 1.
Kelly, J. B. (1968) Britain and the Persian Gulf 1795–1880. London: Clarendon Press.
Kelly, J. B., & Dodds-Parker, D. (1964) Eastern Arabian Frontiers. New York: Faber & Faber.
Kristof, L. K. D. (1959) The nature of frontiers and boundaries. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 49(3), 269–282.
Lorimer, J. G. (1908a) Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, ’Omān, and Central Arabia, geographical and statistical, part I (Vol. 2). Irish Academic.
Lorimer, J. G. (1908b) Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, ’Omān, and Central Arabia, geographical and statistical, part II (Vol. 9). Irish Academic.
Lustick, I. (1993) Unsettled States, Disputed Lands: Britain and Ireland, France and Algeria, Israel and the West Bank-Gaza. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Meir, A. (1996) Territoriality among the Negev Bedouin in transition from nomadism to sedentarism. In Fabietti, U. & Salzman, P. C. (Eds.) The Anthropology of Tribal and Peasant Pastoral Societies: The Dialectics of Social Cohesion and Fragmentation. Pavia: Collegio Ghislieri, 187–207.
News Report (2022) "Al Zaabi: Kalba University to create academic rebirth in 2023". Sharjah 24, 10 January 2022 https://www.sharjah24.ae/en/Articles/2022/01/10/Al-Zaabi-Kalba-University-to-create-academic-rebirth-in-2023. Accessed July 1, 2022.
News Report (2022) "More than 1.2 million tourists visited Dubai’s picturesque Hatta region in 2021". Gulf News, 23 July 2022. https://gulfnews.com/uae/more-than-12-million-tourists-visited-dubais-picturesque-hatta-region-in-2021-1.89465481. Accessed July 1, 2022.
News Report (2022) "Sheikh Mohammed launches Hatta Master Development Plan". Arabian Business, 23 October 2021 https://www.arabianbusiness.com/industries/industries-culture-society/470019-sheikh-mohammed-launches-hatta-master-development-plan. Accessed July 1, 2022.
Onley, J., & Khalaf, S. (2006) Shaikhly authority in the pre‐oil Gulf: An historical–anthropological study. History and Anthropology, 17(3), 189–208.
Partrick, N. (2013) Nationalism in the Gulf states. In: Held, D. and Ulrichsen, K (Eds.) The Transformation of the Gulf: Politics, Economics and the Global Order London: Routledge, 66–84.
Peck, M. C. (1986) The United Arab Emirates: A Venture in Unity. London: Taylor & Francis.
Podeh, E. (1998) The emergence of the Arab state system reconsidered. Diplomacy & Statecraft, 9(3), 50–82.
Political Officer, T. S. (1952) Letter from the political officer, Trucial States, to Shaikh Sagr bin Sultan al Qasimi, ruler of Sharjah, dated May 7, 1952. TNA, FO 371/109817.
Rabi, U. (2006) Britain’s ‘special position’ in the Gulf: Its origins, dynamics and legacy. Middle Eastern Studies, 42(3), 351–364.
Rashid bin Humaid (1937) Note on the boundary claimed by Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid, ruler of Ajman. IOR, R/15/4/3.
Sack, R. D. (1986) Human Territoriality: Its Theory and History. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Vinokurov, E. (2007) A Theory of Enclaves. Lanham, MD: Lexington books.
Walker, J. (1955) Report on the Trucial Coast frontier settlement. TNA, FO 371/114648.
Walker, J. (1957) J. Walker to F.B. Richards Esq., DSC, Bahrain, March 6. TNA, FO 371/126932.
Walker, J. (1962) Boundaries of the sheikhdoms of Trucial Oman. TNA, FO 371/163063. https://www.agda.ae/en/catalogue/tna/fo/371/163063/n/165
Walker, J. (1994) The United Arab Emirates and Oman frontiers. In Schofield, C.& Schofield, R. (Eds.), World Boundaries. London: Routledge, 173-183.
Walker, J. (2010) Social and economic developments in Trucial Oman in the first half of the twentieth century. Liwa: Journal of the National Center for Documentation & Research, 2(3), 33–47.
Wilkinson, J. C. (1983) Traditional concepts of territory in south-east Arabia. Geographical Journal, 149(3), 301–315.
Wilson, A. T. (1954) The Persian Gulf: An Historical Sketch from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century. London: Routledge.
Zacher, M. W. (2001) The territorial integrity norm: International boundaries and the use of force. International Organization, 55(2), 215–250.
Zaga, M. (2021a) A different Middle Eastern model: The United Arab Emirates’ stability foundations. In Podeh, E. & Winkler, O. (Eds.) Between Stability and Revolution: A Decade to the Arab Spring. Jesrusalem: Carmel, pp. 295–314. (Hebrew)
Zaga, M. (2021b) Framing the Trucial Coast’s tribes: Shifting notions of borders and imperial influence before the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Historical Geography, 73, 36–51.
Zahlan, R. S. (1978) The Origins of the United Arab Emirates: A Political and Social History of the Trucial States. London: Macmillan Press.
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2023-01-22
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