Intelligence and Empire: Security Services and Colonial Control in Arab territories, 1919-1940

这个应用程序的目的是完成一本研究专著和两篇链接的文章，这两篇文章询问为什么阿拉伯世界的殖民制度在1918年之后会采取这种形式。这项研究考虑的主题可以归结为一个问题。当殖民地政府面临如何对待臣民的选择时，他们是如何决定要做什么的？政治信仰、种族假设和掌权者的智力形成都起到了作用。货币约束和战略因素也有影响。但也有独特的地方考虑：政治和宗教领袖的观点以及更广泛的土著社区可能的反应。这让我们回到了选择的问题上。历史学家煞费苦心地对决策的这些要素进行优先排序，他们认识到，政府行政部门提供给政府的信息决定了所做的选择。因此，衡量政府效率的一个标准是通过官僚渠道传递给政策制定者的信息的质量。如果国家当局在没有得到绝大多数受试者同意的情况下运作，这些信息的有用性--其来源、广度和解释--对它们的生存至关重要。殖民时代的情况就是如此。阿拉伯世界的殖民地安全先验地取决于两个因素：关于帝国制度在当地受到挑战的情报的质量，以及殖民国家对有关潜在威胁的信息做出快速反应的能力。坦率地说，在这些穆斯林社会中，殖民或准殖民的控制取决于情报机构收集的信息。有关阿拉伯民族主义团体、抗议运动和部落争斗的秘密情报对于明智的决策至关重要。那情报供应商呢？法国殖民情报界受到人类学和涂尔干社会学新学科的影响，收集了关于当地社会和习俗的数据。对于英国的阿拉伯事务专家来说，参与和支持阿拉伯起义是一种形成性的经历，尽管被浪漫化了。这些人对殖民主义的残暴感到不安，具有讽刺意味的是，他们成为了殖民主义生存的关键。安全机构人员与他们经常被指定保护的欧洲定居者和商业利益几乎没有共同点。如果说有什么不同的话，那就是殖民情报分析师试图限制欧洲人的存在对土著社会的影响。作为殖民令状的执行者和习惯权利的捍卫者，这一双重身份的矛盾在书中进行了详细的探讨。另一个主题是帝国权力的性质。殖民政权缺乏仅靠武力维持秩序的资源。相反，他们与城市知名人士和部落首领合作，根据参与者不断变化的社会经济利益，建立不稳定的伙伴关系。有关所涉个人和团体的情报信息使这一过程可行，但这并没有使殖民统治为更广泛的受试者所接受。与此同时，在任何殖民环境中都至关重要的种族和族裔问题在阿拉伯领土上变得更加尖锐，因为安全部门的工作被广泛视为对社区间紧张局势的自利操纵。西方殖民控制穆斯林社会的机制在当前的国际气候中具有特别的共鸣。几十年的白人统治影响了国家的形成、种族间的冲突、语言的使用和法律制度。在9/11之后的世界里，更明显的是，人们对西方统治的普遍怨恨是基于最近殖民历史的不公。《情报与帝国》直截了当地解决了这些问题，既强调了安全部门行动背后的理由，也强调了其镇压性质的灾难性后果。

The aim of this application is to complete a research monograph and two linked articles that ask why colonial systems in the Arab world took the form that they did after 1918. The themes considered in this research boil down to a single question. When colonial governments faced choices about the treatment of subject populations, how did they decide what to do? Political beliefs, racial assumptions, and the intellectual formation of those in positions of power all played their part. Monetary constraints and strategic factors were also influential. But so were uniquely local considerations: the views of political and religious leaders and the likely reaction of the wider indigenous community. This returns us to the question of choices. Historians take pains to prioritize these ingredients of policy-making, recognizing that the information presented to governments by their administrative services shapes the choices made. It follows that one measure of government effectiveness is the quality of the information fed through bureaucratic channels to policy-makers. Where state authorities operated without the assent of the vast majority of the subject population, the usefulness of that information - its source, its breadth, and its interpretation - was critical to their very survival. Such was the case in colonial settings.Colonial security in the Arab world was dependent à priori on two factors: the quality of the intelligence received about local challenges to the imperial system, and the ability of the colonial state to respond quickly to information about potential threats. Put bluntly, colonial, or quasi-colonial, control in these Muslim societies rested on information gathering by intelligence agencies. Covert intelligence about Arab nationalist groups, protest movements and tribal feuds was essential to informed decision-making. What about the intelligence suppliers? The French colonial intelligence community was influenced by the new disciplines of anthropology and Durkheimian sociology, amassing data on local societies and customs. For Britain's Arab affairs specialists, participation in, and support for, the Arab revolt was a formative, if romanticized, experience. These were individuals ill at ease with the brutality of colonialism who, ironically, became pivotal to its survival. Security agency personnel shared little in common with the European settlers and business interests they were often designated to protect. If anything, colonial intelligence analysts sought to limit the impact of the European presence on indigenous society. The contradictions of this double identity as enforcers of colonial writ and defenders of customary rights are explored in detail in the book.Another theme addressed is the nature of imperial power. Colonial regimes lacked the resources to keep order by force alone. Instead, they collaborated with urban notables and tribal leaders in unstable partnerships contingent on the shifting socio-economic interests of those involved. Intelligence information about the individuals and groups involved made the process feasible, but it did not make colonial rule acceptable to the wider subject population. Meanwhile, issues of race and ethnicity, critical in any colonial environment, acquired a sharper edge in Arab territories because the work of security services was widely seen as the self-interested manipulation of inter-communal tensions.The mechanisms of western colonial control in Muslim societies have a particular resonance in the current international climate. State formation, inter-ethnic conflicts, language usage and legal systems were influenced by decades of white rule. More apparent in the post 9/11 world is that popular resentment of western domination has fed on the iniquities of the recent colonial past. Intelligence and Empire addresses these issues squarely, highlighting both the rationale behind security service actions and the disastrous consequences of their repressive nature.