UAE Foreign Policy Identity: Authoritarianism, Cosmopolitism, Connectivity

The article explores the phenomenon of the foreign policy identity of the UAE, an oil-producing nation in the Persian Gulf that has managed to overcome the constraints of its smallness and assert its prestige on a global scale. The study aims to identify historic and cultural basis of the shaping of this identity, the monarchy’s perception of threats and challenges and its ways of dealing with them, the role of political leadership and how their personal views and ambitions shape the contours of the country’s self-positioning as well as the use of the foreign policy identity in implementing national interests. The author discovers that the core of UAE foreign policy identity was contoured by the founding fathers of the small monarchy and then later developed and adapted by the new generation of ambitious, charismatic, and visionary leaders. The key factor was the fusion of visions of rulers of the two emirates with most economic and political weight in the federation, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, that defined the regional and international status of the UAE as an influential and powerful actor. The paper concludes that the main components of UAE foreign policy identity are pragmatism, prioritization of socioeconomic development and prosperity, perfect combination of conservative governance and cosmopolitism, the principles of connectivity and integration in global financial and logistic networks and flows, as well as agility in the currently changing balance of power and skillful interpretation of international norms and discourses in promoting its own image and agenda.

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