General Regulations in Dubai UAE - Example

History of the Country Dubai has remained the most attractive destination in the Gulf. It is the major in United Arab Emirates (UAE) widely known for its unique culture and warm hospitality. According to Dubai’s history, the city was developed by the Bani Yas tribe way back in 1833. Headed by Maktoum family, the tribe developed Dubai as a trading, fishing and pearl center. There were also cultivators of dates, traders and herdsmen of sheep and goats. Dubai grew successfully in the 20th century with most of the residents being emigrants. United Arab Emirates achieved independence in 1971 from Britain. The British withdrew from many states in the Arabian Gulf including Qatar and Bahrain. The discovery of oil wells in the Gulf was one of the most important economic aspects to the British. Their interest remained high despite the loss of India after the World War II. The Gulf was the British frontier for protection of the Indian empire. However, this changed when India got Independence in 1947. Due to high economic benefits of oil to the British in the Gulf, British battalions were strategically placed in major states including Oman, Bahrain and Sharjah. However, Britain incurred more loses than they anticipated and this was an opportunity to Gulf States. The states in the Gulf became fully independent in 1971. The Labor government in Britain assured residents of the Gulf that they were going to withdraw. UAE became independent on December 1971 (Elsheshtawy 63). According to Elsheshtawy (63), the Gulf was dominated by two competing tribal groups in 18th century after a number of migrations that occurred in the area. The two tribes were Qawasim from Persia and the Bani Yas from Najd. Najd is currently known as Saudi Arabia. Trade expansion in Oman motivated the two groups to settle in the area. At the time of settlement on the area by the two groups, Britain had shown some interest in the area. However, the expansion and high influence of Qawasim tribe in Oman and other close locations such as Sharjah, Um Al-Quwain, Ajman and Ras Al-Khaimah was a threat to Britain. Ras Al-Khaimah forms the current Sheikhdoms or United Arab Emirates. Additionally, Qawasim with the large number of fleet estimated to be 500 decided to impose Gulf navigational charges on the British. Qawasim was largely defeated by the British in 1805 and it was the beginning of colonial rule that ended in 1971. According to Elsheshtawy (63), the Bani Yas territory extended from Dubai to Qatar throughout the inland and along the coastline to Bureimi. The Bani Yas tribe were later divided to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbout and Sheikh Hazaa bin Za’al. The former was for Abu Dhabi while the latter was for Dubai. The division of the two Bani Yas tribes was based on the 1820 treaty that led to the birth of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The author explains that, Dubai was developed by a section of Bani Yas tribe due to political difference in Abu Dhabi. A section of Bani Yas tribe had to move from Abu Dhabi to Dubai in 1833. Some of the groups that migrated included Al-Maktoum family who are still ruling Dubai up to this date. Political The rulers of Dubai under the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al-Maktoum worked so hard in building Dubai. Dubai emerged as one of the iconic states in the Gulf. The political system is quite different from other nations and a few changes have been made since the inception of Dubai. A constitutional monarchy has remained as the political system of Dubai for ages. The monarchy belongs to the seven states of UAE. Each of the seven Emirates states has a ruler. Dubai is headed by the prime minister who is the Vice President of the U.A.E. known as Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (Christensen 14). Political parties are not applicable in United Arab Emirates. However, changes are evolving slowly. Democracy is slowly creeping in and this evidenced from election held in 2006 regarding the selection of Federal National Council. The results saw one woman elected to Federal National Council and seven more appointed as council members. Economic Situation The economic situation of Dubai was developed successfully earlier before the discovery of oil fields in 1966. The economic growth is driven by lenient business policies and strategic location of Dubai. The state developed as one of the major open economies in the world and greater global business centre. The discovery of the oil strengthened its economy and has spurred its GDP. For example, the increase of the oil prices in 2007 pushed GDP beyond 16%. Other non-oil sectors are also pushing the economy higher to the point where the other states in the Gulf are envious. Some of the non-oil sectors that have pushed Dubai’s economy higher are tourism, real estate, finance and hospitality. According to the 2008 report by Oxford Business Group (10), the other sectors of Dubai’s economy such as tourism, real estate and finance accounts for 65% of the UAE’s GDP. The report shows that non-oil sectors have risen to $124 billion. The main exports of Dubai according to the report are aluminium and gold. China and Japan supply imports. Some of the imports in Dubai are mobile phones, cars, textiles, and cigarettes. Diversification of the Dubai economy outside oil sector is due to high expectation that oil reserves are due to run out sometime soon. The oil industry currently accounts for only 10% of the Dubai’s economy. Strategic location and open economy are some of the great aspects that have improved the economy including non-oil sectors such as tourism. Increasing inflation is caused by ever increasing cost of housing. The cost of housing is one of the greatest components of the consumer price index, CPI. Housing and gas prices increased 3% and 15%, respectively, despite increasing economy at a higher rate since 2007. Dubai’s residents are forced to spend a little of the disposal income because of the inflation that has increased housing costs. Key Macroeconomic Variables Unemployment The rate of unemployment in UAE is still very low due to the booming economy as compared to other nations. However, the rate of unemployment is not 0%, the study by Ali (2013) shows that unemployment is common among the citizens of Dubai. The fact is that most nationals in UAE do not accept low level jobs as per their culture. Additionally, the study pointed out that the rate of unemployment among the expatriates is as low as 3.2%. A study conducted in 2012 also showed that the rate of unemployment among the nationals is at 20.8%. Economic growth Dubai’s economy is projected to grow by 5%. The growth rate has increased as from 2013 because of the rising number of trade businesses. Additionally, the growth rate of the economy has been boosted by the ten billion underway government real estate projects and the tourism sector that saw an increase of tourists by 10% in the year 2013 to 11 million tourists (Reuters). Inflation Inflation rate is mainly increased by rising housing prices and utility. According to Dubai Statistics Centre, the rate of inflation in Dubai is at 2.6% as of statistics released on February 2014. The increasing property prices have been driving inflation to higher rates for the last five years. Dubai Statistics Centre shows that the consumer price index, CPI rose by 3% in between 2013 and 2014. Property Prices accounts to 40% of consumer price index (Bitar). Judiciary System Laws and regulation Visitors, businessmen or tourists must be well aware of the laws and regulations on visiting Dubai. This will guide them avoid arrest and prosecution. Dubai is a Muslim country and quite a number of their laws conform to Islamic code of conduct. For example, Dubai laws and regulations are more concerned with ethical and moral conduct. Additionally, United Arab Emirates uses a dual legal system consisting of both Islamic Shariah and laws regarding behaviour that is widely accepted. However, the legal framework of Emirates is a bit different from Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is more of Shariah law while the Emirate’s legal system is a bit lenient. In addition, economic development and other changes have led to regular changes of the laws and regulation to meet the constantly changing environment. The legal framework in Dubai is similar to other Gulf States. The system comprises of Shariah laws, criminal laws and civil laws. The federal judiciary executes laws and they consist of courts and the supreme courts. The supreme courts are the highest court in Dubai and UAE in general (Living in Dubai). Environmental Concerns Dubai has emerged as the best destination and economically developed country in the Gulf. However, environmental problems are slowly cropping up. The study by Alderman shows that water provided to most of the Dubai residents have to go through a long process of purification. Water treatment and supply requires much electricity. Additionally, the project of water treatment shares the same requirements with other significant industrial projects and waste treatment. Dubai has insufficient energy sources to deal with the above mentioned aspects despite having large supply of oil. The state of UAE has been developing and it is still developing rapidly. However, developers did not consider environmental impacts of industrial emissions and waste management. Water supplied to industries and the population requires long, expensive process of desalination. The by-products of desalination are sludge and carbon dioxide, CO2 (Alderman). A study by Alderman shows desalination process is equivalent to four billion bottles of water in a day. The sludge that is the waste product in the desalination process is released back to the sea. This is a growing threat to marine life because of increasing levels of salinity in the sea. A study by the author shows that the salinity levels rose to 47,000 parts per million in comparison to 30,000 parts per million three decades ago. Health Concerns Life expectancy The life expectancy in Dubai and other Emirates is at 76.3. But, the increasing number of deaths brought by rising cases of road accidents has pushed the life expectancy to low level. Comparison to developed countries such as Qatar, the U.S. and Kuwait, United Arab Emirates has the highest number of deaths. The rate of deaths is at 615 per 100,000 people. Road accidents contribute a higher percentage of deaths in UAE and more on young people. This has pushed the average deaths relating to road accidents to 35 (Ismail). Healthcare system Dubai’s healthcare system is similar to healthcare systems of developed countries. The healthcare system is of advanced technology comprising of a high number of public and private hospitals. Additionally, the federal government of Dubai has invested largely on the healthcare system that has seen hospitals provide the best medical care. Clinics and hospitals in Dubai are fitted with state-of- the art technology similar to developed countries. This has given a chance to hospitals in Dubai to provide quite a number of services to nationals and expatriates. For example, heart treatment, organ transplant and cancer treatment (Healthcare in Dubai). HIV/AIDs Education of the young people is one of the measures taken by government and UN agencies regarding HIV and AIDS. Quite a number of conferences have been held in Dubai. A conference was held to provide more information on ways of stopping the spread of the diseases. The government, UN and other agencies are working together to curb the prevalence of the diseases among the population especially the young people. The results from the Ministry of Health show that there was an increase of HIV cases by 7% from 2000 to 2007. The number of cases of HIV was 50 in 2000. However, it rose to 450 cases by 2007 with 2006 results showing 250 cases of HIV/AIDs (Al Jandaly). Society, Family and Culture Tourists visiting Dubai must be well aware of Dubai’s cultural lifestyle. They must also respect and behave in accordance with the culture. The roots of Dubai’s culture are more of Islamic customs. Dubai has emerged as the top country in the Middle East frequented by wealthy party lovers and tourists capable of entertaining themselves in expensive hotels and bars. However, Dubai nationals especially of Islamic religions are not allowed to engage in entertainment services similarly to tourists or other partying individuals. Additionally, entertainment places such as nightclubs, bars and pubs are situated in towns and places reserved for tourists. Alcohol consumption is not prohibited in Dubai but, it is only allowed in specific restricted areas such as bars, hotels and nightclubs. In additions, Dubai’s nationals and the expatriates are allowed to use alcohol in their homes as long as they are licensed by authorities. The national language in Dubai is Arabic. However, due to the high number of foreigners in Dubai, there are other languages, foreign languages. The main language that most people use is the English language that has seen most signs on the road written on both Arabic and English (Dubai History). Ethnic groups According to Levinson (295), UAE population comprises of 88% of foreigners working in many sectors of the economy. UAE is also ethically mixed; they consist of a large number of South Asians such as Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis. Additionally, Arabs is another ethnic group comprising of 13% of the total population. Arabs are mainly, Egyptians, Iraqis, Jordanians and Palestinians. There are other small groups from North Africa, Philippines, Indonesia and Europe (Dubai History) Religion The main religion in Dubai and other Emirates is Islamic based on article 7 the UAE’s constitution. Religions outside Islamic are also accepted in Dubai to perform their religious practices. Dubai accepts non-Muslim immigrants and tourists. Tourists and immigrants are however expected to behave in accordance to Islamic culture and laws. For example, in times of the holy month of Ramadan, other religious practicing groups such as Christians are not allowed to have meals in open places. Catholicism, Buddhist and Hindus have their own holy places where they can practice their religion. Dubai has remained as the only Arabic place in the Gulf that has given a chance to other religions to build Hindu temples, churches and Sikh places (Dubai History). Education The government has made a significant investment on education leading to an influx of foreigners and development of research centres. Additionally, support and investment on education by the government has attracted some of the most prominent educational institutes in the world. According to a study by the World Bank, Dubai government has invested close to 5% of their GDP on education. According to the research by Oxford Business Group, (186), the investment by Dubai government on education is of a larger percentage than some Asian and south American countries. The investment among those countries is 3% of their GDP (Oxford Business Group, 186). The study by Monshipouri (131) shows that the literacy rate among girls is higher than boys. For the last 30 years, literacy rate rose rapidly in UAE with 89% on females and 83 on males. A significant percentage of schools in UAE are single-sex, the same applies to universities. Most universities are single sex. Works Cited Al Jandaly Bassma. Experts focus on HIV prevention in UAE and region. GulfNews. 2013. Web. 15 June, 2014. Alderman Liz. Dubai Faces Environmental Problems After Growth. The New York Times. 2010. Web. 15 June, 2014. Ali Mustafa. Unemployment rates in UAE are safe for now, economists say. Al-Shorfa. 2013. Web. 15 June, 2014. Bitar Zaher. Dubai’s inflation rate stood at 2.6%. The Gulf News. 2014. Web .2014. Christensen Shane. Frommers Dubai. 2010. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons Dubai History. Culture, religion, and lifestyle in Dubai. (n.d.). Web. 15 June, 2014. Elsheshtawy Yasser. Dubai: Behind an Urban Spectacle. 2009. New York: Routledge. Healthcare in Dubai. Allianz Worldwide Care 2014. 2014. Web. 15 June, 2014. Ismail Manal. Road death toll cuts average life expectancy in UAE. The National UAE. 2013. Web. 15 June, 2014. Levinson David. Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook. 1998. Arizona: Greenwood Publishing Group. Living in Dubai. General Laws and Regulations in Dubai UAE. 2014. Web. 15 June, 2014. Monshipouri Mahmood. Muslims in Global Politics: Identities, Interests, and Human Rights. 2011. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press Oxford Business Group. The Report: Dubai 2007. 2007. Oxford Business Group Oxford Business Group. The Report: Dubai 2008. 2008. Oxford Business Group Reuters. Dubai sees 2014 GDP growth of 4.7 pct, over 5 pct in 2015. 2014. Web. 15 June, 2014. Read More