Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond (Columbia/Hurst) - Softcover

Davidson, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231701071 ISBN 13: 9780231701075

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2011

Synopsis

A rising economic power, Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, is poised to become a major player in the fortunes of both Third and First World countries. Abu Dhabi owns more than 8 percent of the world's oil reserves, has close to one trillion dollars to invest in sovereign wealth funds, and is about to implement a masterful set of economic initiatives that will yield even greater returns.

Abu Dhabi has begun to eclipse its partner city, Dubai, in terms of sheer wealth and cultural and infrastructural development, opening the world's first Ferrari theme park and erecting satellite branches of the Guggenheim and the Louvre. Author of the best-selling Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success and an expert on Gulf politics, Christopher M. Davidson tracks Abu Dhabi's remarkable growth from a modest, eighteenth-century sheikhdom to its present opulent state. He recounts the dramatic efforts made by the emirate's dynastic family to retain their power, detailing the system of "tribal capitalism" they created in order to reconcile old political allegiances with modern engines of growth. Davidson concludes with potential challenges to Abu Dhabi's political and economic success, including a weakening of civil society, invasive media censorship, an ongoing labor crisis, increasing federal unrest, and persistent underperformance in the education sector.

About this title

About the Author:

Christopher M. Davidson is a fellow of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University and a visiting associate professor at Kyoto University. A former assistant professor of political science at Sheikh Zayed University in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, he is the author of Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success and The United Arab Emirates: A Study in Survival.

Review:

Specialists and non-specialists will be treated to a critical yet deeply sympathetic account of the raison d'etre and very identity of the emirate, past and present.

(Eva-Maria Nag Times Higher Education)

Davidson's book provides an excellent overview with a good balance of history and contemporary and future issues.

(Christopher Sell Middle East Interational)

Meticulously researched... [ Abu Dhabi] provides both a solid historical and social background of the UAE capital and a detailed snapshot of its current economic and political situation.

(Middle East Policy Journal)

A tour de force.... the narrative is excellent, the style is highly readable and the information by and large is priceless.

(Jean-Francois Seznec International Affairs 1900-01-00)

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0231701071
• ISBN 13: 9780231701075
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256