The Twilight of the British Empire: British Intelligence and Counter-Subversion in the Middle East, 1948–63, by Chikara Hashimoto

Abstract

This monograph explores the British Empire and intelligence in the early post-war era by focusing on British policy-makers’ interest in using intelligence to counter communism in the Middle East from 1948 to 1963. Intelligence was vital for counter-subversion with Britain’s loss of reliable Middle East partners. The book includes a foreword with two tributes to author Chikara Hashimoto (1975–2016) by Len Scott and Paul Maddrell, discussing the author’s life and contributions to intelligence studies. They explain that the book breaks new ground by looking at the role of Britain’s security services in the Middle East, a topic usually on the periphery of intelligence studies. Drawn from extensive research in The National Archives, Hashimoto’s book looks at Britain’s ‘secret liaison with Middle Eastern security agencies’ and how the ‘friendly’ countries ‘struggled to reciprocate’ (p. 3). He concludes, ‘As British influence faded during the period between 1948 and 1963, intelligence liaison with Middle Eastern counterparts was a short-term success but a long-term failure’ (p. 3).