ANALYSIS OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES’ NATIONAL SECURITY

Abstract

This study addresses a gap in the literature on the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) national security. It establishes a reference for further research into the analysis of national security of similar countries to the UAE based on established international relations theory.
The UAE, since its establishment in 1971, has gone through exponential development and changes in terms of its politics, economics and social structures. However, attempts to develop a comprehensive approach to analysing the various aspects of maintaining the country’s existence are scarce. Any research focuses on narrow specific areas.
This research analyses the UAE’s national security by using the most relevant analytical framework based on Buzan’s ‘Nature of the State’ hypothesis from the Copenhagen School of International Relations. The threats to the UAE’s impeding national security threats are addressed using the various elements in the hypothesis. These elements are the ‘idea of state’ which concentrates on the country’s state formation, the institutional framework of the UAE, and the structure of its physical base. Importantly, due to the dynamic interdependency of these elements, a threat to one can create a threat to the other elements.
The researcher establishes a framework for the analysis of national security, which; because of the similarity of the political, economic and social base of the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia), can be used to analyse their national security systems. Furthermore, the researcher addresses the requirement for further exploration of the interdependencies between the three elements composing the state and the need for a coherent approach in addressing those threats.
The study is structured in five parts. Chapter one highlights the research’s introductory material. Chapter two explores the theories of national security of the major schools of international relations theories, while chapter three theorizes the UAE’s national security according to the most relevant international relations theory (Buzan’s ‘Nature of the State’). Chapter four explores the specific threats to the UAE national security and finally chapter five demonstrates the researcher’s findings and recommendations.