Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum/ LONELY PLANET IMAGES ©1979
Sheikh rashid is
declared prime
minister of the uae.
The post had been
held by his son,
Sheikh Maktoum, who
stepped aside to give
his father more power.1990
Sheikh rashid dies
during the first Gulf
War and his son, Sheikh
Maktoum, takes over
as ruler of Dubai. Five
years later, Maktoum’s
brother Mohammed
assumes de facto rule.t EhE r cEnt paSt
When Britain announced its departure from the region in 1968, an at-
tempt was made to create a nation that included the seven emirates
that made up the Trucial States (today’s United Arab Emirates) as well
as Bahrain and Qatar. While the talks with Bahrain and Qatar col-
lapsed (they both moved on to their own independence), the leader of
Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, and his counterpart in
Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum, strengthened their com-
mitment to creating a single state.
On 2 December 1971, after persistence from Sheikh Zayed, the fed-
eration of the UAE was born, consisting of the emirates of Dubai, Abu
Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain, with Ras al-
Khaimah joining in 1972. Impressively, given the volatility in the region,
the UAE remains to this day the only federation of Arab states in the
Middle East.
Under the agreement, the emirs approved a formula whereby Abu
Dhabi and Dubai (in that order) would carry the most weight in the fed-
eration, but would leave each emir largely autonomous. Sheikh Zayed
became the supreme ruler (president) of the UAE, and Sheikh Rashid of
Dubai assumed the role of vice-president.
Since federation, Dubai has been one of the most politically stable
city states in the Arab world. However, the fledgling nation has still had
its teething problems. Border disputes between the emirates continued
throughout the 1970s and ’80s, and the level of independence that each
emirate enjoys has been the subject of long discussions.
While Dubai and Abu Dhabi had an agreement to cooperate long
before the UAE was born, the relationship has not been without its
difficulties. Achieving an equitable balance of power between the
two emirates, as well as refining a unified vision for the country,
was much debated until 1979 when Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid
sealed an agreement in which each gave a little ground on his vision
for the country. The result was a much stronger federation in which
Dubai remained a bastion of free trade while Abu Dhabi imposed a
tighter federal structure on the other emirates. Rashid also agreed
to take the title of prime minister as a symbol of his commitment to
the federation.
Sheikh Rashid, the driving force behind Dubai’s phenomenal growth
and ‘father of (modern) Dubai’, died in 1990 after a long illness and
was succeeded as emir by the eldest of his four sons, Sheikh Maktoum
bin Rashid al-Maktoum. Maktoum had already been regent for his sick
father for several years and continued the expansion of Dubai.
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