Politics of the United Arab Emirates

Politics of the United Arab Emirates takes place in a framework of a federal presidential elected monarchy, a federation of seven absolute monarchies, the Emirates of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah and Umm al-Qaiwain. The ruler of Abu Dhabi is President of the United Arab Emirates, the head of state, and the ruler of Dubai is the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, the head of government.

Executive branch

President
Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan|
3 November 2004
-
Prime Minister
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum|
5 January 2006Administratively, the UAE is a federation of seven emirates, each with its own ruler. The pace of local government reform in each emirate is set primarily by the ruler. Under the provisional constitution of 1971, each emirate reserves considerable powers, including control over mineral rights (notably oil) and revenues. In this milieu, federal powers have developed slowly. The constitution established the positions of president (chief of state) and vice president, each serving 5-year terms; a Council of Ministers (cabinet), led by a prime minister (head of government); a supreme council of rulers; and a 40-member National Assembly, a consultative body whose members are appointed by the emirate rulers. Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was president of the UAE from its foundation until his death on 2 November 2004. His eldest son, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is the current president.The federation has a Federal Supreme Council. The Supreme Council consists of the individual rulers of the seven emirates. The President and Vice-President are elected by the Supreme Council every five years. Although unofficial, the Presidency is de facto hereditary to the Al Nahyan clan of Abu Dhabi and the Premiership is hereditary to the Al-Maktoom clan of Dubai. The Supreme Council also elects the Council of Ministers, while an appointed 40-member Federal National Council, drawn from all the emirates, reviews proposed laws.

Ministries

Ministry of Presidential Affairs
Ministry of State for Supreme Council and GCC Affairs
Ministry of State for Cabinet Affairs
Ministry of Finance & Industry
Ministry of Energy
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Ministry of Public Works & Housing
Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs & Awqaf
Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries
Ministry of Economy & Planning
Ministry of Information & Culture
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Communications
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Defence
Institute of Administrative Development
Federal Customs Authority
Federal Authority of Electricity & Water
Federal Environment Agency
Stocks and Commodities Authority
Emirates Organization for Properties
State Audit Institution
General Information Authority

Politics

The relative political and financial influence of each emirate is reflected in the allocation of positions in the federal government. The ruler of Abu Dhabi, whose emirate is the UAE's major oil producer, is president of the UAE. The ruler of Dubai, which is the UAE's commercial center and a significant oil producer, is vice president and prime minister.

Since achieving independence in 1971, the UAE has worked to strengthen its federal institutions. Nonetheless, each emirate still retains substantial autonomy, and progress toward greater federal integration has slowed in recent years. A basic concept in the UAE Government's development as a federal system is that a significant percentage of each emirate's revenues should be devoted to the UAE central budget.

Parliament

Though the United Arab Emirates have a kind of parliament, they had their first elections in December, 2006. The Federal National Council ("al-Majlis al-Watani al-Ittihadi") has 40 members, representing the Emirates, half appointed by the rulers of the constituent states and the other half elected to serve two-year terms, with only advisory tasks. The United Arab Emirates does not allow political parties. The first election occurred during mid-December 2006. [http://www.electionguide.org/country-news.php?ID=224]

Government related issues

The state of democracy

"More wealth usually leads to the growth of a middle class independent of the state, as well as to rising levels of education, a growing number of mass media and means of communication and therefore a larger spread of information. As a result of these changes, a pro-democratic political culture emerges, including a pluralistic and active civil society and the general quest for political participation." [ [http://www.dur.ac.uk/john.ashworth/EPCS/Papers/Weiffen.pdf The Cultural-Economic Syndrome:Impediments to Democracy in the Middle East] ]

Although this is what the modernisation theory suggests as a consequence after years of development, the UAE seems to be still far beyond the emergence of any meaningful political life. In fact, the rulers hold power on the basis of their dynastic position and their legitimacy in a system of tribal consensus. Rapid modernization, enormous strides in education, and the influx of a large foreign population have changed the face of the society but have not fundamentally altered this traditional political system. So, how can we explain the almost non-existence of civil society participation in the political life? One main attempt to do so is through the famous 'rentier state' theory. UAE is one of those states that can be described as 'rentier', where by definition is one of those "countries that receive on a regular basis substantial amounts of external economic rent." [ [http://students.washington.edu/hattar/yates.pdf The Theory of the Rentier State] ]

Such states including United Arab Emirates generate most of their income from foreign actors, "accrue directly to the state, and only a small fraction of the population is engaged in the generation of this rent, while the rest nevertheless might benefit from the distribution and utilization of it". [ [http://www.dur.ac.uk/john.ashworth/EPCS/Papers/Weiffen.pdf The Cultural-Economic Syndrome:Impediments to Democracy in the Middle East] ]

Given the high revenue derived from oil, UAE government like many in the Persian Gulf region collect very low taxes, if any at all. As a result, these governments including the UAE's, face very low levels of accountability and representation demands from their people, and even when they exist the rentier governments are highly resistible by nature to pressures from below and have shown their ability to contain/ignore them. [ [http://www.periwork.com/coursepoints/rentier_middle_east.html The rentier states in the Middle East] ] This makes sense of the famous phrase "no representation without taxation" (from the concept of “No taxation without representation”) and reflects the political reality in these countries.

The huge government spending, furthermore, in every dimension of the economy have made the people absolutely satisfied and managed to divert their attention to other areas than politics, given their free access to education and health services, as well as the subsidised primary commodities, which all led to the overall economic wellbeing. "Oil wealth, in sum, makes possible a fairly high standard of living for the people, but enables the government to keep the public politically demobilized, either by fiscal generosity or by repression, and does not bring about the social changes that usually lead to political mobilization in favor of democracy. As quantitative studies demonstrate, oil wealth has indeed a strong negative impact on the level of democracy". [ [http://www.dur.ac.uk/john.ashworth/EPCS/Papers/Weiffen.pdf The Cultural-Economic Syndrome:Impediments to Democracy in the Middle East] ]

This is the primary political economy approach that explains the lack of democracy in this country. But this is not to say at all that the political life has been frozen in the UAE. The Emirates are witnessing some political changes driven by the wider American influences, some would argue, aimed at the whole region following the US “Greater Middle East Initiative”.

One important step towards democratic government: On December 1 2005, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced that half of the Federal National Council would be elected while the other half appointed by the rulers. This was assumed to be the first of many steps towards a democratic government.

The 2007 Freedom House’s "Freedom in the World" report classifies the United Arab Emirates as a “Not free” country.

Criticism from human rights groups

As of 2004, the governments of the United Arab Emirates have been accused by several human rights organisations of acting in contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the country's failure to allow freedom of expression. The Barnabas Fund organization cites that the Dubai emirate removed the right of appeal against deportation by expatriates accused of so called religious crimes, such as trying to convert a Muslim to another religion. Amnesty International lists further problems relating to human rights on its website, such as the mass detainment of 250 persons related to the United States-led War on Terror, the ill treatment of prisoners in prison, and the continued use of flogging and the death penalty.

International organization affiliation

ABEDA, AfDB, AFESD, AL, AMF, CAEU, ESCWA, FAO, G-77, GCC, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO

External links

* [http://www.dubai.ae/en.portal Dubai Government Information and Services Portal]
* [http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/u/uae/ Adam Carr's Election Archive]
* [http://www.uaeprison.com/ See Human Rights problems about UAE]

References