Geopolitics and the genealogy of free trade zones in the persian Gulf

Geopolitics

Volumn 15, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 263-289

  Keshavarzian, Arang ^a  

^a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FREE TRADE AREA; GEOPOLITICS; SOVEREIGNTY; STATE BUILDING; TERRITORIALITY;

ARABIAN SEA; DUBAI [UNITED ARAB EMIRATES]; HORMOZGAN; INDIAN OCEAN; IRAN; KISH ISLAND; PERSIAN GULF; UNITED ARAB EMIRATES;

EID: 77952510105     PISSN: 14650045     EISSN: 15573028     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14650040903486926     Document Type: Article

References (135)

1. The development of commodity markets and developments in transportation have allowed movement of agricultural produce and a degree of compensation for variations in geographic and climate.
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3. and Saskia Sassen, The Global City (Princeton: Princeton University Press 2001). Territorial organisation is necessary for production and exchange, because it provides the coordination and integration of technologies, human capital, and legal and coercive frameworks for protection of private property. Territorialised economies "may be defined as something quite different from mere location or localisation of economic activity. It consists [of]. economic activity which is dependent on resources that are territorially specific."
4. (Michael Stroper, 'Territories, Flows, and Hierarchies in the Global Economy', in Kevin R. Cox (ed.), Reasserting the Power of the Local (New York: Gilford Press 1997) p. 20). These resources are assets generated by geographic proximity in addition to assets specific to a particular location, which result in efficiencies and market advantages over other locales.
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6. Ronen Palan, The Offshore World: Sovereign Markets, Virtual Places, and Nomad Millionaires (Ithaca: Cornell University Press 2003).
7. It is tempting to think of these economic zones as territorially capturing Agamben's notion of state of exemption, in which citizenship rights are unbundled in order to ultimately enhance the powers of the sovereign (Gigorgio Agamben, State of Exception, trans. by Kevin Attell (Chicago: The University of Chicago 2005)).
8. Aihwa Ong, Neoliberalism as Exception: Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty (Durham: Duke University Press 2006) p. 103.
9. For a international relations examination of the forces behind simultaneous de-territorialisation and re-territorialisation see Waleed Hazbun, Beaches, Ruins, and Resorts: The Politics of Tourism in the Arab World (University of Minnesota Press 2008).
10. Dubai is one the seven emirates that makes up the confederation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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12. I thank Najib Hourani for this formulation.
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19. See also Tsing (note 3).
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22. Keshavarzian (note 14) pp. 106-111 and 170-185.
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24. Andrew Schrank, 'Export Processing Zones: Free Market Island or Bridges to Structural Transformation?', Development Policy Review 19/2 (2001) pp. 223-242.
25. Kishore Rao mentions that free trade zones are important in the contemporary US economy, 'Free Zones in the Middle East: Development Patterns and Future Potential', in Bernard Hoekman and Hanaa Kheir el-Din (eds.), Trade Policy Developments in the Middle East and North Africa (Washington DC: The World Bank 2000) p. 246.
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30. Ibid., p. 105.
31. The prominence of economic interests is most clearly stated in Harvey's discussion of the US invasion of Iraq in New Imperialism.
32. David Harvey, Spaces for Global Capitalism (London: Verso 2006) p. 35, emphasis added. Harvey mentions China's special economic zones and "open costal cities" (pp. 36-37), but does not analyse them in relation to his spatial theory of capitalism.
33. James A. Bill, 'The Geometry of Instability in the Gulf: The Rectangle of Tension', in Jamal S. al-Suwaidi (ed.), Iran and the Gulf: A Search for Stability (Dubai: The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research 1996) p. 106.
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37. Rao (note 17) p. 247.
38. See also Sophia Qasrawi, 'Foreign Direct Investment in the UAE: Determinants and Recommendations', The Emirates Occasional Papers, No. 57, The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, 2004.
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43. This essay was written and submitted for publication before the 2009 economic downturn in Dubai.
44. Graeme Wilson, Rashid's Legacy: The Genesis of the Maktoum Family and the History of Dubai (Dubai: Media Prima 2006) p. 368.
45. As early as 1974, the British consulate in Dubai reported discussions of creating a free trade zone. The National Archive, FCO 8/2362/NBT 6/548/1, Part B, 'Commercial and Economic Relations between United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates (UAE)', 1974, folio 192.
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51. Al-Sayegh probably is adopting this language from Frauke Heard-Bey, From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates: A Society in Transition (London: Longman 1982) pp. 243-244.
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63. A civil engineer from Sir William Halcrow and Partners, who completed the dredging of the Dubai creek, reminded Shaikh Rashid in 1966 that "we have helped to provide much valuable land." The National Archive, FO 1016/838/1391/66C, Dubai Harbour (Halcrow/Arabicon), 1966, folio 3.
64. The National Archive, FCO 8/2888/NBE 014/3, U.A.E. Annual Review 1976, 1977, p. 3.
65. On the 1950s activism of the merchant-dominated National Front, see Saleh Hmad al-Sagri, Britain and the Arab Emirates, 1820-1956: A Documentary History, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Kent at Canterbury, July 1988.
66. Interviews with various businessmen in Dubai, July 2005.
67. On the British decision to end its colonial relationship with the Arab sheikdoms of the Gulf and the various boundary disputes at that time see Balfour-Paul (note 41) Chapter 4.
68. Also see, Sean Foley, 'What Wealth Cannot Buy: UAE Security at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century', in Barry Rubin (ed.), Crises in the Contemporary Persian Gulf (London: Frank Cass 2002) p. 38.
69. Christopher M. Davidson, The United Arab Emirates: A Study in Survival (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers 2005) pp. 199-208.
70. From the perspective of the British, the Shaykh Rashid and Shaykh Zaid rivalry fuelled tensions. See The National Archive, FCO 8/2887/NBE 014/1, U.A.E. Internal Political Affairs, 1977; and The National Archive, FCO 8/2888/NBE 014/3, U.A.E. Annual Review 1976, 1977.
71. Balfour-Paul (note 41) p. 114.
72. The UAE has oil reserves of about 98 billion barrels, ninety-four percent of which are in Abu Dhabi.
73. The National Archive, FCO 8/2660/NBE 014/2, Internal Political Situation: United Arab Emirates (UAE), 1976, folio 31-41.
74. Wilson (note 34) pp. 432-433.
75. Davidson (note 52) p. 232.
76. Other free zones in Dubai include: Dubai Airport Free Zone (1996), Dubai Cars and Automotive Zone (2000), Dubai Internet City (2000), Dubai Media City (2001), Gold and Diamond Park (2001), Dubai Knowledge Village (2003), and Dubai Health Care City (2003). Free trade zones in other emirates include: Fujairah Free Zone (1987), Ahmed Bin Rashed Free Zone in Umm al Quwain (1988), Hamriyah Free Zone in Sharjah (1995), Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (1995), and Amjan Free Zone (1996).
77. Qasrawi (note 30) p. 43.
78. Ibid., pp. 40-41.
79. The local business community was in fact hostile towards the influx for foreign firms during the oil boom years.
80. Anthony (note 40) p. 160.
81. David E. Spiro, The Hidden Hand of American Hegemony: Petrodollar Recycling and International Markets (Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1999).
82. The National Archive: FCO 8/2623/ NB 065/1, 'Anglo/US Talks on Defense Matters in Persian Gulf [American Position in the Gulf]', 1975. Also see The National Archive: FCO 8/2363, NBT 6/548/1 Part C, 'Commercial and Economic Relations between United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates (UAE)', 1974.
83. See also, The National Archive, FO 1016/838/1391/66C, 'Dubai Harbour (Halcrow/Arabicon)', 1966; and The National Archive, FCO 8/2665/NBE 020/548/1, Part B, 'U.K./U.A.E joint Committee', 1976, folio 61.
84. The National Archive: FCO 8/2666/NBE 020/548/1, Part C, 'UK-UAE Joint Committee', 1976. On British contractors and advisors in Dubai see The National Archive, FCO 8/2361/NBT 6/548/1, Part A, 'Commercial and Economic Relations between United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates (UAE)', 1974.
85. Jebel Ali port was designed and built by Balfour Beatty plc, a prominent British construction company involved in the construction of M25 Motorway (London ring road) and the Channel tunnel, as well as various projects in the British Empire in the 1920s and 1930s, including in Mandate Palestine and Iraq. It is currently building the Burj Mall in Dubai. Other major British contractors involved in Dubai at this time were Sir William Halcrow and Partners (Halcrow International Partnership), Costain Construction Company, and Taylor Woodrow International.
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