The United Arab Emirates ─ Power, Politics and Policy-Making

The United Arab Emirates: Power, Politics, and Policy-Making will offer a full and frank assessment of the UAE in historical perspective, political and security orientation, and economic globalization.

Led by Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates has become deeply embedded in the contemporary system of international power, politics, and policy-making. Possessing the seventh-largest oil reserves in the world and strategically located at the southern end of the Persian Gulf, the UAE has developed a global footprint in aviation, trade, financial flows, and foreign direct investment, as well as a trans-regional significance in labour migration and remittances. Long tied to the Global South through the generous provision of overseas development assistance, in the 2000s the UAE has participated actively in the broader rebalancing of geo-economic power between West and East. Moreover, as an active member of the Gulf Cooperation Council and an integral cog in the regional security architecture in the Persian Gulf, the UAE has engaged heavily with states impacted by the Arab Spring upheaval.

This book will strike a balance between narrative and analysis in order to critically analyse both the factors that have propelled the UAE to regional and international prominence, as well as the seamier underside of that growth, and will be an essential resource for students and policy-makers with an interest in the politics of the Persian Gulf.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is Research Fellow, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University