Colony, Protectorate, Federation? British Policy in Aden and South Arabia, 1958—1962

This article examines the UK’s policy of maintaining control over the colony of Aden and the protectorates of South Arabia in 1958—1962. This period is interesting because at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s that the authorities of the United Kingdom were close to an innovative attempt to transform their influence by granting self-government status to Aden while simultaneously including it in a federation with the principalities of South Arabia. In this way, the UK planned to counter the integration processes in the south of the Arabian Peninsula with the irredentist plans of neighboring Yemen. The reluctance to take risks and the desire to preserve their military base in Aden at any cost crossed out these attempts, forcing the UK government to adhere to the traditional imperial policy of playing on the contradictions of the existing political elites of urban Aden and the tribal South of Arabia.