Imperial powers have employed a range of strategies to establish and then maintain control over foreign territories and communities. As deploying military forces from the home country is often costly – not to mention logistically stretching when long distances are involved – many imperial powers have used indigenous forces to extend control or protect influence in overseas territories. This study charts the extent to which Britain employed this method in its informal empire among the small states of Eastern Arabia: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the seven Trucial States (modern day UAE), and Oman before 1971. Resolved in the defence of its imperial lines of communication to India and the protection of mercantile shipping, Britain first organised and enforced a set of maritime truces with the local Arab coastal shaikhs of Eastern Arabia in order to maintain peace on the sea. Throughout the first part of the nineteenth century, the primary concern in the Gulf for the British, operating through the Government of India, was therefore the cessation of piracy and maritime warfare. Later, British interests were expanded to suppressing the activities of slave traders and arms traffickers. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, Britain also sought to exclude foreign powers from gaining a foothold in the area. It was during this time that the British government assumed full responsibility for the external relations of these shaikhdoms and that Britain conferred the status of ‘protected state’ upon them. Up to this point, when Britain needed to protect these interests or use force to compel local rulers to comply with its wishes, naval power usually sufficed. By the midpoint of the twentieth century, Britain’s interests in the area had swelled and migrated inland – first because of the establishment of air stations servicing the imperial route to India, then as a result of oil exploration and production. At the same time, growing international opposition to colonialism and a steady reduction in Britain’s ability to project military power overseas made it more and more difficult for Britain to discharge it security duties in the Gulf. So how did Britain bridge this gap? Studies of British security policy towards the Gulf have focused almost exclusively on Britain’s formal military architecture. Using India Office records and British Government archival documents, this study provides a reinterpretation of the means by which Britain sought to maintain order, protect its interests in the region and discharge its defence obligations. The records, it will be shown, point to a broad British policy before 1971 of enhancing the coercive instruments available to the local rulers. Rather than having to revert to using its own military forces, Britain wanted the Gulf rulers to acquire a monopoly over the use of force within their territories and to be in a stronger position to defend their own domains against cross-border raiders and covetous neighbours. This policy was not always successful; Britain was progressively drawn into the internal security affairs of a number of ITS protégés, especially after the Second World War. The security forces that emerged – armed police forces, gendarmeries and militaries – varied considerably, as did Britain’s involvement in their establishment and running. Nevertheless, taken as whole, a trend emerges between 1921 and 1971 of Britain pushing the Gulf states to take over more and more of the security burden. Indeed, at a time when its traditional sources of global power were fading, indigenous security forces were an important tool in Britain’s pursuit of its interests before its military withdrawal from the Gulf in December 1971. This aspect of Britain’s approach to security in the Gulf has largely been overlooked.

S’inscrivant dans l’histoire des relations culturelles internationales, cette thèse porte sur la seconde vague d’américanisation culturelle du Brésil (1946-1978). Elle s’interroge sur la notion d’américanisation, sur ses acteurs et décideurs et sur leurs moyens d’action, ainsi que sur les lieux de rencontres culturels entre le Brésil et les États-Unis. Dans un contexte politique international bipolaire, la seconde américanisation culturelle du Brésil s’insère dans une Guerre froide« périphérique », celle qui dépasse l’axe États-Unis - Union Soviétique : elle est conduite par un réseau complexe de décideurs artistiques, convaincus de l’importance du renforcement de l’amitié continentale américaine. Pour cela, la culture, sous toutes ses formes, s’avère un outil de politique étrangère relevant du soft power, mais aussi un instrument privilégié, voire une « arme » actionnée par des décideurs privés. Cette thèse s’intéresse aux acteurs et médiateurs individuels ou collectifs, à titre étatique ou privé, ainsi qu’à leurs actions culturelles contribuant à la diffusion de l’American Way of Life dans l’axe Rio de Janeiro - São Paulo. Les Brésiliens eux-mêmes, individus comme autorités politiques ou institutions privées, occupent une place déterminante dans cette démarche d’alignement culturel : les Brésiliens invitent ainsi volontiers des artistes états-uniens et organisent ou reçoivent avec sympathie des manifestations culturelles en provenance du « grand frère ». Cette participation brésilienne volontariste conduit l’approche de cette étude : celle d’une américanisation largement « invitée » dans les musées, galeries, théâtres ou instituts culturels brésiliens. Ces lieux de rencontres et domaines culturels ont jusqu’alors été peu analysés par l’historiographie ; mais ils s’avèrent fondamentaux pour la compréhension tout aussi bien de la place attribuée au Brésil dans les circuits internationaux artistiques dans le contexte bipolaire, que de la présence culturelle états-unienne au Brésil ou de la nature des relations internationales des deux géants américains lors de la Guerre froide culturelle. / As a part of the history of the international cultural relations, this thesis focuses on the second wave of the cultural americanisation of Brazil (1946-1978). It questions the notion of americanisation, its actors, its decision makers and their means of action, as well as the cultural meeting places between Brazil and the United States. In a bipolar international political context, the second cultural americanisation of Brazil takes place in a « peripheral » Cold War which oversteps the axis United- States - Soviet-Union. It is realized by a complex network of decision makers who believe in the importance of the strenghtening of the American continental friendship. For that purpose, culture in all its different forms proves to be useful for the « soft power » foreign politic and to be an ideal tool, a true « weapon », in the hands of the private decision makers.This thesis focuses on the actors and the individual or collective mediators, private ones or public ones, as well as on their cultural actions which help to spread the American Way of Life over the axis Rio de Janeiro - Sao Paulo. The Brazilians, individuals, political authorities or private institutions occupy a key place in this cultural alignement process: they invite artists from the United-States willingly and organise or receive cultural events from the « big brother » with sympathy. This voluntary Brazilian participation leads the process approach of this work: a widely « invited » americanisation in the museums, galleries, theaters or Brazilian cultural instituts. These meeting places and cultural areas have not yet been much analysed by the historiography; but they are fundamental for the comprehension of the place given to Brazil in the international art circuits in the bipolar context, for the comprehension of the cultural presence of the United States in Brazil and for the nature of the international relations of the two giants during the cultural Cold War.