United Arab Emirates

Founded by the six states Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, and Umm al Qaiwain, the Emirates was joined a year later by Ras al Khaimah. Abu Dhabi was the first state to export oil in the early 1960s, and has since been able to generate vast revenues from its oil resources. Dubai, most well-known in the popular eye, has been keen to diversify its economy (much due to the fact that it has less oil than Abu Dhabi) and has managed to become a hotspot of finance and tourism. Dubai has received a great deal of media attention, mainly because of extravagant five-star hotels and spectacular construction projects such as the Burj Khalifa – the tallest man-made structure on earth.

Having been one of the strongest economies of the Middle East with a GDP per capita equal to leading West European countries, the UAE saw increasing challenges in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008-2009. Dubai was hit hardest, unable to deal with its own debt, and was ultimately rescued by neighbor Abu Dhabi.

Socially, the Emirates are traditionally conservative, but along with a growing influx of expatriates and non-natives, who now make up roughly three quarters of the population, the UAE has become increasingly liberal. The political realm, however, remains in the hands of the Emirs. While holding its first elections for an advisory council in 2006, Emirati politics are strictly governed by the ruling families, and is still considered an authoritarian state.