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COPYRIGHT 2001 National Association of Credit Management
Of the seven former Trucial States that united in the early 1970s to form the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Sharja, Fujayra, Ra's al Khaymah and Umm al Qaywayn), all are ruled by dominant families, and power is based on heredity rather than democracy. Even though they use a single currency, the UAE dirham or AED, the individual Emirates have considerable autonomy in setting economic policy and keeping the oil sectors under their control. With autocratic rule and a large presence of foreign workers, there is some potential for tension and sociopolitical instability, but in the UAE, the diverse nature of society has not proven to be divisive.
Political strife is not a problem, and the loose federal structure has been highly cohesive, even though Abu Dhabi accounts for more than 90 percent of the oil production...
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