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The people:
Expatriates make up at least 80% of Dubai’s population, and consist mainly of Indians, Pakistanis and Filipinos, who take the emirate’s low-wage jobs.
The government is attempting to address this imbalance
through “Emiratisation” (replacing expatriates with local employees),
but most native graduates prefer well-paid work in the public sector.
Expatriates from rich Western countries, along with Iranians and
Lebanese, are employed mainly in white-collar capacities, and middle
class Indians are increasingly influential.
Dubai’s population, which was 183,200 in 1975, has been growing by up to 7% a year. According to the official census, it was 1.2m at the end of 2005, although many feel this underestimates the real size of around 1.5m.
The religious climate:
 Dubai Mosque
There have been terrorist alerts in Dubai since the start of the American-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, but the risk is deemed relatively low by the British and American governments. Dubai’s high standard of living tends to mitigate radicalism. Even the meagre wages of expatriate labourers are generous compared with salaries in their native countries. Ambitious UAE nationals aspire to an MBA from Harvard or MIT, and a job at the Dubai regional office of Citibank or Microsoft.
The political scene:
Dubai is one of seven emirates that make up the federation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the second most important after Abu Dhabi, the capital and the seat of the UAE’s oil wealth. As in other Gulf states, ruling clans dominate politics. In Dubai, the al-Maktoums hold all key positions in the city-state’s government; their power is absolute and their decisions are largely popular, because they have overseen a period of prosperity.
The Maktoum family is large, with many branches. This is typical of ruling families in the Gulf, where men take up to four wives and regularly count their offspring in double figures. The official head of the family is Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. When Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum, who began to modernise Dubai in the early 1970s, died in 1990, his eldest son, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum, inherited his position. In 1995, Sheikh Maktoum appointed his younger brother, Sheikh Mohammed, as crown prince of Dubai. Sheikh Mohammed then took over as ruler on Sheikh Maktoum's death in January 2006. Known affectionately as the “CEO of Dubai”,  Princess Haya
No political parties or universal suffrage exist in the UAE, and there is little enthusiasm for either. After all, life is—for the most part—pretty comfortable. People pay no income tax, and the government has been shrewd in sharing the country’s oil wealth through a generous welfare system for poor nationals, and patronage for important merchant families. Furthermore, the majlis (“meeting place”) provides an informal but effective system of popular representation, enabling any national with a grievance to request an audience with the sheikh.
Although UAE nationals account for just one-fifth of the country’s 4.1m inhabitants, they are the only people who matter politically. Expatriates—whether unskilled Asian labourers or rich Western executives—have no representation. The local press is cautious, rarely offering more than tub-thumping for the rulers and their decisions.
Economic profile:
Dubai is the second largest and wealthiest emirate in the UAE. Trade, the basis of its economy, grew on the back of pearling in the late 19th century, when tax concessions and development of the harbour at Dubai Creek encouraged foreign traders to set up a link between the West, and Persia and India. Re-export of gold to India flourished, and the tiny sheikhdom is still one of the world’s main gold-trading centres.
The discovery of oil in 1966 led to rapid economic growth, but Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum (Dubai’s ruler from 1958 to 1990) was quick to recognise that the good times wouldn’t last. He wisely diversified, ploughing the proceeds of oil into building infrastructure (including the world’s largest man-made cargo harbour at Jebel Ali). The strategy paid off. In 2005, 94% of Dubai’s GDP came from non-oil sources, and this share is increasing, particularly in the real estate, banking and tourism sectors. Reports suggest that Dubai’s oil and gas will run out in about ten years. Sheikh Mohammed
Sheikh Mohammed has continued to promote Dubai as the Gulf’s business and tourism hub. He has concentrated on attracting foreign direct investment by improving docking, road and airport facilities, and building free-trade zones—office complexes (such as Dubai Internet City) in which foreign firms can conduct business in tax-free, offshore conditions. The sheikh has also encouraged foreigners to buy property, and enjoy a Western lifestyle (alcohol is widely available), making Dubai an obvious location for the Middle East headquarters of firms such as Microsoft, Oracle and HSBC.
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