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

本申请的目的是完成一个研究专著和两个相关的文章，问为什么在阿拉伯世界的殖民制度采取了形式，他们在1918年后。本研究中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，他们是如何决定做什么的？政治信仰、种族假设和掌权者的智力形成都发挥了作用。货币限制和战略因素也有影响。但也有独特的地方考虑因素：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。这又回到了选择的问题。历史学家们煞费苦心地对这些决策要素进行优先排序，认识到政府行政部门提供给政府的信息塑造了政府的选择。因此，衡量政府效能的一个标准是通过官僚渠道向决策者提供的信息的质量。当国家当局在没有得到绝大多数主体人口同意的情况下运作时，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。殖民地的情况就是如此，阿拉伯世界的殖民地安全首先取决于两个因素：一是收到的关于当地对帝国制度的挑战的情报的质量，二是殖民地国家对潜在威胁的情报做出快速反应的能力。坦率地说，这些穆斯林社会的殖民或准殖民控制依赖于情报机构的信息收集。关于阿拉伯民族主义团体、抗议运动和部落争斗的秘密情报对知情决策至关重要。情报供应商呢法国殖民地情报界受到人类学和涂尔干社会学等新学科的影响，积累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，如果浪漫化的话。具有讽刺意味的是，这些人对殖民主义的残暴感到不安，却成为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之处。如果说有什么不同的话，那就是殖民地情报分析人员试图限制欧洲人的存在对土著社会的影响。书中详细探讨了作为殖民法令的执行者和习惯权利的捍卫者的双重身份的矛盾。讨论的另一个主题是帝国权力的本质。殖民政权缺乏仅靠武力维持秩序的资源。相反，他们与城市名流和部落领袖合作，建立不稳定的伙伴关系，这种关系取决于有关各方不断变化的社会经济利益。有关所涉个人和团体的情报使这一进程可行，但它并没有使殖民统治为更广泛的主体人口所接受。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，因为人们普遍认为，安全部门的工作是出于私利操纵社区间紧张局势，西方对穆斯林社会的殖民控制机制在当前的国际气候中特别引起共鸣。国家的形成、种族间的冲突、语言的使用和法律的制度都受到几十年白色统治的影响。在后9/11世界中，更明显的是，对西方统治的普遍不满助长了最近殖民历史的不公正。《情报与帝国》正视这些问题，强调了安全部门行动背后的理由及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.