Page 232 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

198 The Origins of the Ini led Arab Emirates
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the independence of the people of the Coast. The Trucial States
Council, set up in 1952 by the British Government, was the first
serious attempt to bring some sort of unity to the area. Its main
purpose was to bring the rulers together in order to discuss problems
of mutual interest. It met at least twice a year under the chairmanship
of the Political Agent in Dubai. The meetings gave the rulers
a chance to realise what interests and problems they had in common,
and served to lay the groundwork for the negotiations that led
to the formation of the UAE in 1971.
The later 1970s and early 1980s can be expected to determine
the future course of the federation. Two opposing factors must be
borne in mind. On the one hand, time will not be on the side of the
UAE, which entered the field of international relations at a late and
critical moment, and it will have to work hard and fast at laying a
sound basis for its internal and external affiairs, in order to maintain
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its sovereignty. On the other hand, the UAE has one distinct ad­
vantage in its favour: its characteristics have not been fragmented by
the artificial superimpositions of a colonial power—Aden, India, and
Nigeria all come to mind as examples. It can structure its future by
choosing any mode that best suits it. Much depends on this choice.

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