Why Sykes-Picot is (still) important
The centenary of the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement has been marked by what can only be described as a deluge of writing. Opinions have been numerous, sometimes tiresomely so, and have ranged exceedingly widely.
Sykes-Picot: the treaty that carved up the Middle East
The 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement has long been regarded as a watershed – a pivotal episode in the history of the Middle East with far-reaching implications for international law and politics. A product of intense diplomacy between Britain and France at the height of the First World War, this secret agreement was intended to pave the way for the final dissolution of Ottoman power in the region.
Sovereign equality today
To speak of sovereign equality today is to invite disdain, even outright dismissal. In an age that has become accustomed to compiling “indicators“ of “state failure”, revalorizing nineteenth-century rhetoric about “great powers”, and circumventing established models of statehood with a nebulous “responsibility to protect”, sovereign equality seems little more than a throwback to a simpler, less complicated era.