Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Traditional Concepts of Territory in South East Arabia

1983; Wiley; Volume: 149; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/634004

1475-4959

John C. Wilkinson,

African history and culture analysis

Explanations of the differences between the traditional and modern notions of territory in the Gulf tend to emphasize the distinction between jus sanguinis andyus soli. The adequacy of such an explanation is examined in the context of South East Arabia with special attention being paid to the notions of territoriality amongst the nomads in whose dars the creation of modern boundaries has been most arbitrary. After examining basic notions of ownership and the means by which allodial rights and precedence in the exploitation of natural resources are established, the article continues by examining the relationship with the functional needs for control of territory, notably demographic pressures on a sparse and fluctuating pastoral resource base. Notions of community, government and sovereignty amongst both the settled and the nomads are then sketched and related to the growth of nascent states through shaykhly control of nodes that give access to marine and land resources. The article concludes that it is meaningless to divorce soli and sanguinis, since we are dealing with a society in which both are intimately linked in a common jus. Some of the rulers of the Gulf appear to be reverting to these notions to regulate territorial differences between them (since the withdrawal of the British presence a decade ago). Their agreements constitute as valid an 'international' law as the Western notions of territoriality which have led to ludicrous fragmentation of sovereign rights over resources in the region. There is little reason to suppose that, because these agreements do not produce 'demarcated boundaries' they are any more unstable than if they were to do so.