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The Rise of Liberalism in the United Arab Emirates

Preetam Dasika Honors College, University of South Florida @ Tampa IDH4200: Geographic Perspectives Dr. Raja Benchekroun April 11, 2021

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Abstract

Commented [DP1]: which country/government ar you planning to investigate?

My objective is to demonstrate why and how liberalism is growing in the UAE. The questions that

UAE

guide my research are as follows: what demographics is neoliberalism is affecting, what

Your abstract statements could be supported by readings that led you to form them (Include citations). E.g. Halim Barakat review of liberalism, a well-known Arab liberalist/ intellectual ...

demographics is the strongest propagator for neo liberalism in the UAE, which accepted standards are liberal thinkers looking to reform, why is liberalism in the society of the UAE accepted to a greater degree than some other nations in the Arab League, what are the ideas that are being inspired by western ideals of liberalism, what institutions are experiencing reform and a departure from archetypes that detest liberal thinking, what are the benefits of adopting certain liberal ideals like freedom of religion and open market, to what degree can religion being the primary basis for culture be altered in the UAE, and would the best vessel of reform be through reconciliation, exposure, or revolution? To answer these questions, reference is drawn to the works of some significant liberal Arab revolutionaries and intellectuals like Halim Barakat, Meir Hatina, and Abdel Malek. Through reading firsthand accounts and understanding the climate of the modern UAE compared to its past, it is found that liberalism is growing in the UAE because of growing public interest in unrestrictive freedom of expression, twenty-first century ideals that greatly value human rights, and the need for equitable opportunity regardless of class.

Halim Barakat Meir Hatina John L. Esposito John O. Voll Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid-Marsot Fruma Zachs Tawfiq al-hakim (counter arguments) Barakat Page 230 (3rd paragraph) I do not see the objectives of your research paper or any questions to guide the reader. From which perspective will you analyze the impact of liberalism on Arab Cultures? Who are the individuals you intend to examine their influence on the region? Which historical fact/ or major issue (provide time and space/country) that witnessed a liberal uprising? Why are you interested in Liberalism, and how would it add value to discussing current significant issues in the region? My objective is to demonstrate the way that liberalism is making its way into Arab countries using the UAE as a primary example. In addition to this, I also want to demonstrate the reasons as to why ther is a notable shift to more liberal thinking, policy, and action in the UAE. Furthermore, I will be analyzing th effects of liberal thinking in the region from multiple scopes, using period-respective references like novelists and literary reformers.

The implication in these findings is that the UAE and other nations of the Arab league would benefit greatly from adopting liberalism into their societies. Keywords: liberalism, United Arab Emirates, Arab league, reformation, culture, government, human rights.

Questions: What demographics is neoliberalism is affecting? What demographics is the strongest propagator for neo liberalism in the UAE? Which accepted normals are liberal thinkers looking t reform? Why is Liberalism in the society of the UAE accepted to a greater degree than some other nations in the Arab League? What are the ideas that are being inspired by Wester ideals of Liberalism?

Commented [DP2R2]:

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Introduction Liberalism is defined by the oxford languages as the “willingness to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one’s own” and the “openness to new ideas” (2020). In another vein of definition, liberalism is also defined by the Oxford languages as “a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise” (2020). For the purpose of this paper, both of these definitions will be explored in the context of the United Arab Emirates, because their increasing presence of liberalism in the region signifies some vast departures from various global assumptions. In reference to the liberalism that is present in the United Arab Emirates, much of the introduced ideas are considered reformatory in nature; loosening of certain cultural restrictions that are typical of provinces located in the Middle East and North Africa regions (MENA). The rise of liberalism in the UAE is especially important to consider because of numerous factors. One thing in particular is how some liberal aspects come into direct conflict with the cultural ideologies that have dominated the region for a very long time. Compared to some of the other MENA provinces, the UAE has actually shown itself to be the among most progressive in terms of cultural development and foreign interactions, as well as internalized social and economic axes. Provinces in the MENA region such as Saudi Arabia, by comparison, are far more conservative in nature when considering cultural guidelines and values, as seen by rules such as strict separation of sexes, sex-based dress codes, a police force that operates on the basis of religion and morality, and the death penalty for any actions that can be perceived as blasphemy

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against the prophet (Esposito & Voll, 2010). The death penalty is also given if a Muslim attempts to change their religion, in turn renouncing Islam (Taylor, 2019). There are also significant differences in the level of inherent rights that are seen between women and men in the more conservative MENA provinces (Taylor, 2019). By contrast, some examples of the UAE adopting a more progressive mindset are women now being able to drive since June 2018 and having also amended an Arab Charter of Human Rights affirming principles set by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 2004 (Expatica, 2020) (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, 2021). Even as recent as November 7, 2020 the President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has conducted a large-scale reformation of Islamic Personal Laws (Thomas, 2020). Liberalism in the UAE has allowed the Emirates to receive praise and be renowned for their actions, and their citizens now possess more rights than before in reference to numerous qualities of life and living. Liberalism has its apparent benefits when applied to a society. People are more accepting of one another, despite differences. New ideas are encouraged and subjected to healthy discourse and the interpretations of codes and laws are more favored toward extending an increased number of privileges to the citizens (Hourani, 2013). Societal freedoms are prioritized in that respect. Historically, however, one of the largest drawbacks of liberalism has to be the oversaturation of individual perspectives, opinions, and beliefs that make any form of conflict much more difficult to deal with (Berlet, 2008). Continuing in a social perspective, liberal thinking surrounding freedom of expression could also condition people to be overly tolerant of some ideas. This is most evident in the United States, where splinter groups for neo-nazism are appearing (Berlet, 2008). This is an example of the liberal ideal of

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freedom of expression being abused. From a governmental view, liberalism has also historically turned legislative decisions in many countries into a longer process, because liberalism ideally values every input; veritably a double-edged sword. With regards to the United Arab Emirates, liberal thinking and action have certainly constructed positive foundations. As recent as 2020, the UAE had established diplomatic relations with Israel, securing its position as the first gulf state to do such a thing (Thomas, 2020). While having such an extensive filter on media through censorship, hotspots like Abu Dhabi and Dubai remain the biggest centers of diversification, regional trading, and tourism in the gulf and the MENA region. Affected demographics The rising presence of liberalism in the United Arab Emirates, more often than not, directly affects particular groups of people defined by their socioeconomic roles or positions. One primary group that is affected by the rise of liberal thinking in the UAE are most certainly non-Muslims. While the national religion of the emirates remains fixed with Islam, The UAE is a proponent in freedom of religion (2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: United Arab Emirates). Specifically, the freedom of religion in a public space. This distinction is to be made since stricter states like Saudi Arabia consider public worship by a non-Muslim to be blasphemy against the prophet, and require all non-Muslim worship to take place exclusively in private (Taylor, 2019). There are still limitations regarding this though, since both states still condemn the protest of Islam, the conversion by a Muslim to another religion, non-Muslim proselytization, and atheism (Goldstein, 2020). Another group that liberalism has had an impact on would be unmarried, heterosexual couples, particularly the option to now cohabitate with the opposite sex (Associated Press, 2020). Even with the adoption of liberal policies,

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homosexuality is still considered illegal in the UAE and is ground for a variety of punishments, from financial to corporal (United Arab Emirates LGBTI Resources). According to the UAE Penal Code article 356, partaking in anything outside of heterosexual marriage can be punished by “confinement for a minimum period of one year” (United Arab Emirates LGBTI Resources). To make up for where the government draws it limitation on practicing liberalism, groups of citizens on the UAE are working to secure those additional rights for underrepresented demographics in the emirates. Activist groups such as the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality (AFFE) are extending support for LGBT people living in the Middle East, focusing on building communities and changing attitudes. Obviously, they face a great deal of state contention as a result. However, as a testament to how much of a generational change is taking place in the current era, an organization known as the International Research Conference (IRC) is holding an event called the “International Conference on Gender Identity and LGBT Rights” on May 6th through the 7th, 2021 in Dubai itself (ICGILGBTR 2021:15). In a place that does not recognize LGBT people as legal citizens, the allowance of this event can be seen as a step toward a more liberal understanding and tolerance of individualistic ideals in the UAE. Women in the UAE have also seen increasing degrees of rights, privileges, liberties, and attempts at anti-discrimination (Nagesh, 2021). In 2020, the World Economic Forum had placed the UAE in second place for gender equality in the MENA region. This should be taken with a grain of salt, since none of the MENA region countries, except for Israel, ranked higher than 100th place out of 153 regions of the world. The UAE was 120th. Women in the UAE can own property and inherit it, take part in voting, hold a job, and recently are now allowed to drive (Jackie, 2020). Liberalism has also driven changes in laws to protect women, like in 2016 when a part of the

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UAE penal code that allowed for men to be violent toward their wives was abolished (Expatica, 2020). In 2019, a clause that mandated obedience of women to their husbands was also removed from the Personal Status Laws (Expatica, 2020). Even back in March, 2020, a law was passed enabling women to obtain restraining orders for the first time (Expatica, 2020). Honorkillings were also criminalized in the UAE in the first week of November in 2020, and all of this demonstrates the liberal thinking that emphasizes challenging present ideals in favor of a better society (Expatica, 2020). Which people are the strongest benefactors for liberalism in the UAE? Change is facilitated by the people that wish to see better version of the world they have. Liberalism’s strengthening foundation in the UAE is definitely helped by the current president, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who took up office in 2004 after the death of his father Sheikh Zayed Bin-Sultan Al Nahyan. Liberalism as a government practice entails a greater degree of government involvement in society, and the current president expressed intentions to involve the people by restructuring certain parts of the government to greater facilitate the needs of the people (UAE Embassy in Washington, 2021). The president places an emphasis on the need for ‫ﺭﻯ‬ َ ٰ ‫ﺷﻮ‬, ُ or “shura,” which is the Arabic word for consultation. This consultation has taken the principal form of council and referendum, allowing the sharing of responsibility in decision making for the state (UAE Embassy in Washington, 2021). Another example of this is the president using his power in government to deter the likes of human trafficking and discrimination alongside strengthening worker’s rights (UAE Embassy in Washington, 2021). This and more signify a large progressive shift in the UAE to what some may consider the modern standard of the world, where human rights and freedom of expression are

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paramount, but arguably this upheaval of old quotas is stronger in the voices of the 21st century Emirati youths. There will always be some form of motivation behind the government’s actions and words, in this case to attract expatriates and keep their incumbent denizens in addition to being an appealing choice for immigration (Godwin, 2006). Through their own organization and sometimes through the help of government programs, Emirati youths have been able to spread ideas and calls for reformation incredibly quickly. With the onset of rapid globalization, a lot of western concepts and ideologies made their way into the emirates through exchange programs, entertainment, tourism, education, etc (Godwin, 2006). One large area of advocacy by liberal Emirati youth is the need for secularity in certain parts that make up the country and the denouncement of despotism in the more conservatively ruled emirates, even more so in other states of the Arab League of Nations (Godwin, 2006). What currently accepted standards need reformation? There has clearly been a great deal of progress already made by the leaders of the UAE to reform their existing codes of conducts, and their efforts have had incredible effects. In the same week that honor killings were fully criminalized, alcohol and suicide we decriminalized (although assisting in a suicide is still considered a crime) (Qiblawi, 2020). When observing data on what people think needs to be reformed, expatriates, outside critics, and a selection of current residents seem to line up in their values on a number of topics. From a 2013 report on UAE policy compiled by the Congressional Research Service, the most salient of these topics are the suppression of criticism, unchallenged power of the ruling family, over-catering to tourists, neglect of human rights, and discrimination against specific demographics on the basis of identity (Katzman, 2020). These issues are generally more pronounced in the more conservative

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emirates such as Umm Al Quwain. Much of the restraint that the UAE government is expressing in their propagation of liberal ideology and policy is due to the fear of radical groups being able to take advantage and grow using liberalism as a platform (Katzman, 2020). The motives of the ruling family often come under question due to these contradictory actions, such as shutting down the National Democratic Institute sponsored by the United States and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation from Germany in 2012, suggesting that the two “… were meddling in the state’s internal affairs and that such activity was unacceptable” (Katzman, 2020). The director and deputy of the U.S. program were even barred from leaving the country, despite operating on a government-issued UAE license for four years and serving to “…promote women’s rights and advising on municipal governance” (Katzman, 2020). To be fair though, the UAE government has made great progress towards liberal ideals on its own, but the suppression of outside input could hinder the transition into generally reformed traditions and codes. Why does liberalism have greater presence in the UAE than other MENA regions? The rise of liberalism is centralizing itself around the UAE because of two major factors: the wealth from oil drilling and marine resources being able to fund transnationalism and the effect of that seen with the UAE city of Dubai practically becoming one of the forefronts of trade and commerce for the majority of the MENA region (Almezaini, 2013). Through trade and commerce, the UAE was able to develop an interconnectedness with various parts of the world through a variety of actors in the form of ambassadors, exchange students, investors, and establishments that resulted from globalization (Almezaini, 2013).

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What institutions are against liberal thinking? The institutions that remain opposed to liberal thinking are traditional Islamists and the more conservative emirates in regards to tradition, religion, and nationalist beliefs. One thing that is similar between the regions that are less disposed to liberal thinking is that a larger portion of their citizens are farther removed from activity spaces that would connect them in greater degree to the global conversation (Nawaz, 2014). Sometimes the case is that these individuals simply lack the socioeconomic opportunity to develop their worldview, and proceed to create their identity, beliefs and moral compass around the ideas that have already existed, which tend to more conservative in nature. This would explain their aversion to progressive policies and liberal thinking. How far can religion be separated from the culture of the UAE? Seeing that secularism was mentioned before, and was a large suggestion by some advocate groups, it’s an important discussion to have whether the religiously dominated governing bodies can adopt more secular policies in order to account for the large portion of the population that are non-Muslim, and incorporate protections on a larger scale for nonMuslims across the emirates (Hourani, 2013). The UAE is the most viable option to start spreading these policies and ideas because they have had the best results in being preserving the core identity of the culture while being able to accommodate exposure to the rest of the world.

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Reconciliation, exposure, or revolution? Three methods that have appeared through history and have been the driving forces for change in societies are reconciliation, exposure, revolution. These three methods are discussed in great detail in Halim Barakat’s (2007) book The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State. Reconciliation considers the morals and values of the past and seeks to find a compatibility between newly introduced or growing ideologies (2007). Exposure works by deconstructing the incumbent institutions and showing the perceived mistakes that it has (2007). Revolution is a commitment to change through radical means, and often incurs the most collateral damage of the three (2007). In order for any degree of liberalism to make its way into the more conservative regions of the UAE, reconciliation and exposure would most likely be the best avenues to pursue, seeing that many revolutions that happen in the middle east are normally punctuated with a great amount of harmful discourse and violence. The cases for these are the numerous civil wars that have taken place or are taking place. Conclusion In totality, the cultural impact of incorporating liberal aspects of society and government into the United Arab Emirates would have several major ramifications: increased freedom of expression, better incorporation of non-muslims into public engagement like civic participation, expanded ...