Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success

"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.

About the Author :
Christopher M. Davidson is a fellow of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University. He is a former assistant professor of political science at Sheikh Zayed University in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and the author of The United Arab Emirates: A Study in Survival.

Review :
'This is certainly the best study of Dubai that I have read and is an importantcontribution to the still meagre literature on the extraordinary formation thatis the UAE. Especially interesting about Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success areits discussion of the emirates' founding under British rule and the continuinginfluence of this imperial history on its politics and society; the importedcharacter of its A"ArabA" identity; and the regional context that informs everythingfrom its security concerns to its demography.' -Professor Faisal Devji,New School University, New York'This is the definitive book on Dubai and likley to become a classic in Gulfstudies.'-Professor Ray Hinnebush, St Andrews University'As was his previous work on the UAE, Davidson's new book on Dubai is bothhighly original and pathbreaking, one of the first systematically to investigatethe political and economic fate and fortune of one of the Arab Gulf 's mostglobalized city-states.' -Professor Dirk Vandewalle, Dartmouth College'Davidson sees beyond Dubai's glitz and glamour, presenting a balanced appraisalof its rise from the desert and its present and future challenges.'-Professor Robert Springborg, Director, London Middle East Institute, SOAS