<p>"Dubai" is a remarkable success story. From its origins as a small fishing and pearling community, the emirate has gone from strength to strength, having established itself as the premier trading entrepot of the Arabian Gulf and, in more recent years, having boomed into a massive metropolis of some two or more million people, most of whom are expatriates engaged in an increasingly diversified economy that has become synonymous with startling and innovative architecture. Following a detailed historical background, Davidson's in-depth study demonstrates how Dubai's pioneering post-oil development strategies were implemented against a carefully managed backdrop of near complete political stability, despite the lack of democratisation and genuine civil society.He then addresses the problems that may surface as the need for sustained foreign direct investment encourages far-reaching socio-economic reforms, many of which may affect the ideological, religious, and cultural legitimacy of the traditional monarchy. He also analyses Dubai's awkward relationship with its federal partners in the United Arab Emirates, before highlighting some of the hidden costs of being the region's most successful free port - namely its attractiveness to international criminal fraternities, the global black money economy and terrorist networks.</p>

Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success (UK Edition)

Business & Money

Christopher Davidson

Economics

C.Hurst & Co

Abu Dhabi is a new economic superpower that will soon wield enormous influence across both developing and developed worlds. The principal emirate of the United Arab Emirates federation commands over 8 percent of global oil reserves, has nearly $1 trillion in sovereign wealth funds to invest and is busily implementing a thoughtful economic master plan. It has also pumped huge amounts of money into culture, sport and infrastructural development in an attempt to eclipse even its ubiquitous UAE partner--Dubai--as an international household name. Abu Dhabi will host the Formula One Championship decider in 2009, is opening the world's first Ferrari theme park, has a rapidly expanding airline and is setting up satellite branches of the Guggenheim and Louvre museums. Gulf expert Christopher Davidson's book charts the emirate's remarkable trajectory from its origins as an eighteenth-century sheikhdom to its present position on the cusp of preeminence. Abu Dhabi's impressive socio-economic development, he offers a frank portrayal of a dynasty's dramatic survival, demonstrating the newfound resilience of a traditional monarchy in the twenty-first century and its efforts to create a system of "tribal capitalism" that incorporates old political allegiances into modern engines of growth. Finally, he turns his attention to a number of problems that may surface to impede economic development and undermine political stability. These include an enfeebled civil society and invasive media censorship, a seemingly unsolvable labour nationalisation paradox, an underperforming education sector, and increasing federal unrest.

Abu Dhabi

C. Hurst & Co. Publishers Ltd.

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Books by Christopher Davidson