The other day, Gulfnews ran a photo series on "A Day In the Life of UAE". I believe this photo showed the wide diversity in the city more than any other photo in the series.

A fisherman peacefully tends his livelihood as Jumeirah life buzzes on around him.

Dubai, more than the whole of UAE, is at the crossroads of development. UAE, a country with no more than a couple of tents, camels, and few human comforts, discovered oil at more or less the same time as its neighboring country, Saudi Arabia. However, the difference between the countries, apart from the size of the population, is the vision of its rulers. Although notperfect, they have successfully brought western investment as well as business tactics into an traditional Islamic culture.

Each country depends on four things for its development. Land, Labour, Capital and finally technology. In-house Technology is only possible if you have the two resources that are needed for it, i.e., Capital and Labour. Land does not play a huge role in technology revolutions of the present day. Land was available, and more importantly, so was capital, thanks to desert atmosphere and oil industry respectively. Both these resources were also available for Saudi Arabia. However the major difference is the way population played a role. Although both countries imported a large expatrite populations for their infrastructure projects, a development of middle class in the UAE has saved it from the problems of its neighbor. A strict control over population demograhics, UAE has successfully is in the process of trasforming its population from unskilled labour to a thriving middle and upper middle class populations of skilled/educated labour. Where Riyadh could not develop a economically successful middle class thanks to its regilious-institutional links, religious tolerance in Dubai, and in general the whole of UAE, has helped the country move towards more secular demograhic.

Modeled after the success of singapore in the east, Dubai managed to be the major trading and torist destination in the middle east. It is one of the few countries that can survive on non-oil revenues after the oil runs out. Now nationalities of nearly all nations of the world live in Dubai, making it in par with cities like London and New York in some ways. I say in some way, because, all said and done, the city-state is ruled by a absoulte monarc. There is a bill of human rights, and reinforeced quite often, but it is not democratic even in the lowest levels of governance. This however will not be premanant, and I believe democarcy in some form will be introducted to UAE citizens ( not everybody can become a citizen, even if you are born there) after this generation of rules. Most of the ruling community has been western educated in europe and united states, making a pr0-capitalist, western model of democarcy almost a sure thing. Almost, is because under this pro-capitalist and pro-western country live some of the same funders of Islamic Jihad against capitalistic western nations. An example of this can be found here.