Establishment of the United Arab Emirates - Research Paper Example

Establishment of United Arab Emirates Name Institutional Affiliation Introduction The United Arab Emirates here in and after abbreviated as UAE was established in the year 1971 comprising of seven emirates including Abu, Dubai, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Ajman and Sharjah. The establishment followed a series of a number of meetings and treaties that lead to the federation. Prior the Federation, the region was occupied by sea traders who by then lived along the north-western coast of the Oman’s Gulf and southern coast of Gulf of Persian. The area was transformed into Islam during the seventh century and later afterwards involved in dynastic disputes. The paper provides in-depth details regarding the enrolment of various countries, the meetings and treaties held in order to reach the independence and how the seven emirates become one country between the years 1968 to the year 1973 (IMF DataMapper). The significance of UAE to remain as one unit and the call to work in cooperation with each other owes much of its importance to Sheikh Zayed’s efforts. The British decision that threatened creation of a political and military vacuum in the area instigated the reduction of difficulties and obstacles that prevented earlier attempts and efforts at the Emirate’s Union. The idea of terminating a one hundred and fifty years connection between the Britain and the by then States signalled some form of bond and association that never existed between the Trucial States Council. Owing to these forces, Sheikh Zayed the leader of Abu Dhabi in conjunction with Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Rashid initiated a strategy in light of starting a federation. In their thinking, the federation was meant to protect the rich coastal region from hidden interests of stronger neighbouring states/countries by ensuring that there is the existence of a nucleus Arab Unity (Potts, 2012). On 18th February 1968, a meeting was held at Al Simha on the border of Dubai and Abu Dhabi initiated by Sheikh Rashid and Sheikh Zayed. The two rulers of two Emirates resolved to merge their respective emirates by forming a union that could be foreign affairs, social services, form a defensive unit and security unit and lastly adopt a common migration policy. At that period, the rest of administrative duties were designated to the ruling local government of each emirate. The momentum agreement formed during that time was referred to as Union Accord which remained as the very initial step in the journey to uniting the Trucial Coast to form one unit. In light of further strengthening the federation, Sheikh Rashid and Sheikh Zayed invited the leaders of the other five emirates to join them during the agreements towards the development of the Union (Peterson, 2007). In around 25th February to 27th February 1968, leaders of the 9 states arranged a conference that was to be held in Dubai. Over the past years, the agreement that was contemplated acted as a foundation for significant efforts towards shaping legal and constitutional systems for the AUE consisting of nine member states. During that time, there were avalanche meetings on various levels of authority. During the supreme council of rulers’ meeting held from 25th to 27th, core issues were agreed upon by the 9 states. Formal discussions were held by assistant leaders as well as other officials including civil servants and other advisors from the Emirates. On May 1969, a meeting of Supreme Council of the Union of the nine was held in Doha to deliberate on the way forward towards achieving a common union. During the same year, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan attended a ruler’s council meeting to discuss the same issue (Potts, 2012). In 1971, Iran did not hold possession over Bahran and Sheikh Isa, leader of Bahrain declared island states’ independence in the year 1971 on 14th August. In addition to its independence, Qatar followed suit as on 1st September 1971. Additionally, another meeting was held on 18th July 1971 in Dubai, unlike Ras Al Khaimah who was still hesitating, Umm al Qaiwain and Fujairah decided to form the United Arab Emirates. During the same year, a declaration of the union of UAE was drafted and later read by Ahmed Khalifa Al Suwaidi (Potts, 2012). In the year 1968, the British Government made it official regarding the end of the all its agreements governing the States as well as its will to leave from the region by the year 1971. In March 1968, Trucial Coast States joined Qatar and Bahrain which were under British protection to form Arab Emirates Federation (Gornall, 2012). However, in 1971, Qatar and Bahrain seceded from the federation preferring for separate independence. In July 1971, six Trucial states including Al Fujayrah, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Umm Al Qaywayn, and Sharjah agreed on a federation constitution towards achieving independence as one unit that is the United Arab Emirates. During the same year on 1st December, the United Kingdom terminated the rest of the existing treaties with the Trucial States and therefore declared independence on the 2nd December 1971; Sheikh signed a Treaty of Friendship between the UK and UAE (Smith, 2004). The seventh state later the Ras al Khaymah the UAE in February 1972. In 1971, ruler Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan was appointed as the first acting president of UAE until his decease in the year 2004. In the same year (1971), UAE adopted a provisional constitution that was supposed to be renewed after five years of service (Gornall, 2012). The constitution comprised of one hundred and fifty-two articles which were grouped into an introduction and other ten parts; explaining the duties and powers to be asigned to newly formed organizations while the rest were to remain the effective of individual emirates at the local level. Constitution was divided into five major categories as follows: 1. Supreme Council which comprised of seven leaders. This was the higher policymaking body mandated with ultimate executive and legislative powers. 2. The president as well as the vice president of the federal state possessing the duty to rule over the state 3. The Cabinet- council of ministers with the duty to help in policy formulation within the federal state 4. Federal National Council; Comprised of forty members drawn from each emirate in accordance to emirate’s population possessing an average of 8 leaders from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, other 6 deputies from Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah and 4 from Umm Al Qaiwain, Ajman and Fujairah and mainly acted as consultative arm. 5. Judiciary; this was organised into an arrangement of courts with the highest court being the Federal Supreme Court. Additionally, despite the disparities in all the Emirates, the UAE has manifested an impressive progress due to the success of the federation as well as leaders working with harmony, cooperation and motivation towards achieving common goals and objectives. The respective authorities have taken as their duties towards a sustainable utilisation of natural resources for the sole purpose of benefiting United Arabs Emirates as a whole. As such, this has acted as a means to an end to the permanence and success of the federation. On the same note, the leaders of UAE (which is the leading country in the production of oil and gas) have up to date used the wealth from the extraction of oil and gas with excellent foresight and vision to improve the welfare of the common citizens, improve country's infrastructure and support other economic activities. Owing much respect to Sheikh Zayed, the federation has over the years held to the notion that money holds no much significance if it is not used to benefit the ordinary citizens. In additiion, social services offered by the various departments including but not limited to free education, health and medical services, social aid and proper housing for the Emirates people has led to a phenomenal as well as rapid growth and improvement of economy throughout the states. Since its formation, UAE has been enjoying political stability due to its careful planning and successful implementation of foreign policy which is targeted at enhancing conciliation as well as defusing conflicts and confrontation. The bottom line of UAE’s principles is to ensure independence of its citizens while improving country's sovereignty within its borders. In addition, the policies aim at expanding country’s political horizons and promote international relations and cooperation with other states (Foley, 1999). References Foley, S. (1999). The UAE: political issues and security dilemmas. Middle East, 3(1), 26. Gornall, J. (2012). Sun sets on British Empire as UAE raises its flag-The National. The national. ae. Retrieved, 09-07. IMF DataMapper. Retrieved October 26, 2016, from http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/index.php Peterson, J. E. (2007). Britain's Revival and Fall in the Gulf: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Trucial States, 1950–1971. By Simon C. Smith. pp. 210. London, RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series), 17(01), 91-93. Potts, D. T. (2012). In the Land of the Emirates: The Archaeology and History of UAE. Abu Dhabi: Trident Press. Smith, S. C. (2004). Britain's revival and Fall in the Gulf: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Trucial States, 1950-71. Routledge. Read More