Description
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.
Author: Christopher Davidson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 07/15/2011
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9780199326891
ISBN10: 0199326894
BISAC Categories:
- History | Middle East | General
- Political Science | World | Middle Eastern
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.
Author: Christopher Davidson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 07/15/2011
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9780199326891
ISBN10: 0199326894
BISAC Categories:
- History | Middle East | General
- Political Science | World | Middle Eastern
About the Author
Christopher Davidson is reader in Middle East politics at the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, a former visiting associate professor at Kyoto University, and a former assistant professor at Zayed University in the UAE. He is the author of several books on the politics and international affairs of the Gulf states, including Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond, Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success, and most recently The Persian Gulf and Pacific Asia: From Indifference to Interdependence.