The overall government body of the UAE is led by hereditary rulers in each of the seven semi-independent emirates. Dubai’s government is led by the Al Maktoum family, which has been in power since 1833. The ruler who is currently in the top spot in Dubai’s governmental system is Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. He is also serving as the Prime Minister of the entire UAE (United Arab Emirates). Not only that, he is also serving in the capacity of a member of the Supreme Council of the Union, otherwise known as the SCU.

The Local Government Administration

Dubai and all the other emirates operate independently of each other, and Dubai has autonomous power over mineral rights, which includes oil. The revenue for each emirate is also distributed according to how it sees fit in terms of projects and infrastructure. City planning and development is also pretty much left to each emirate, and in Dubai’s case, the Dubai Municipality is in charge. In 2001, government services were put up online through Dubai’s web portal which is dubai.ae. Thirteen such services are currently operational, with more services on the way, at an estimated total of forty online services available to Dubai residents when everything is in place.

The Dubai Municipality is also in charge of citizen services, of which only 17% are UAE nationals. The rest of the population in Dubai are expatriates, and because of this Dubai has an article in its constitution calling for equal rights and treatment to all individuals regardless of their race, nationality, or religion. Most of the Dubai population is composed of migrant workers, many of them Asian, and this has led to the rise in usage of foreign languages in Dubai, such as English, Hindi, and Tagalog, although the primary and official language of the emirate is Arabic.

Judicial System and Federal Relations

Since Dubai is part of the UAE, it cooperates with the other emirates in matters concerning multiple emirates so that there are no disputes. A border treaty is in force with Abu Dhabi, to prevent further dispute over boundaries. Dubai doesn’t conform to the federal judicial system that is in place with the rest of the UAE. It implements multiple court system that uses the court of first instance, which includes the civil, criminal, and Sharia courts, each with different functions. The civil court is in charge of civil cases, and the criminal court handles cases submitted by the police. The Sharia court’s function is to preside over matters concerning Muslims. The second court is that court of appeal, and the last is the court of Cassation, which oversees disputes on law matters.

The Federal National Council of the UAE is the legislative body governing the entire United Arab Emirates. Eight members are appointed by Dubai to the FNC in two-term periods.

The Federal Supreme Council is composed of the different leaders of each emirate, and the chief of state is elected from among them for a five-year term. The prime minister is currently also the leader of Dubai.

Since Dubai is the UAE’s main center for commerce, and it also produces oil in significant quantities, the positions of prime minister and vice president are (although implied and not explicitly named) given to the leader of Dubai.

Dubai and the other emirates enjoy autonomous ruling over their territories, although the local government has a large portion of its budget given to the federal government so that the UAE has funds culled from each state.

Government Revenues

Contrary to popular belief, the income of Dubai from its oil revenues is not its most significant source of income. In fact, it only accounts for six percent of the total revenue of Dubai, and the largest portion comes from trade, filling in sixteen percent of total income. As stated before, this total revenue is used to fund the city’s expenses, and expansion and infrastructure projects. Dubai is home to some of the most ambitious government projects in the whole world, and is currently set to build more and more ambitious projects.

The new backbone of Dubai in terms of revenue is no longer oil as it once was, because there are new sectors in business that are growing at astonishing rates. IT services are propping up in Dubai all the time, and as such the government has designated an area as free zones for the IT industry, dubbed as Internet City. The finance industry is also growing rapidly in Dubai, and there is now a Dubai International Financial Center to handle the finance sector. In March of the year 2000, the Dubai Financial Market was founded as a secondary market for brokers to engage in business selling bonds, securities, and other financial instruments.

Real Estate Development

Dubai has shifted from an oil-reliant trade economy to one that is more tourism-oriented, and the result is that real estate values appreciating significantly. Dubai’s growing real estate market has resulted in projects competing for superiority in the area, with some of the largest buildings, some of them hotels, in the world. The Burj Dubai is currently the tallest building in the world, and is due to become even taller upon being finished.

Politics and Religion in Dubai

The official religion of the State is Islam, and there are government subsidies for most of the state’s mosques. All imams (mosque leaders) in Dubai are also employed by the government, with only around five percent of mosques in the area being owned privately or funded chiefly by private sources. Although Islam is the state religion, other religious groups are free to have their own houses of worship and practice their religion as long as they’ve met the requirements of having a land grant and permission granted to build their own compound on their land. A major offense on religious grounds is to distribute religious literature to non-members, which is a criminal offense for behavior that is offensive to Islam. Prosecution and imprisonment is a common punishment for this offense, as is deportation from the UAE.