Dr. Christopher M. Davidson
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Persian Gulf politics, socio-economic development, investments, etc.
DUBAI: THE VULNERABILITY OF SUCCESS
Christopher M. Davidson
Published May 2008 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008; London: Hurst &Co., 2008)
Dubai has a remarkable success story. Since its origins as a small fishing and pearling
community, the emirate has steadily grown in strength to become the premier trading center of
the Persian Gulf. It is also the locus of an exciting and innovative architectural revolution.
Despite its lack of democratization and a genuine civil society, Dubai is now a booming
metropolis of more than two million people, most of whom are expatriates benefiting from the
city's increasingly diversified economy. Following a detailed history, Christopher M. Davidson
presents an in-depth study of Dubai's post-oil development strategies and their implementation
during a period of near-complete political stability. Davidson addresses the probability of
future problems as the need for sustained foreign direct investment encourages far-reaching
socioeconomic reforms, many of which may affect the ideological, religious, and cultural
legitimacy of the traditional monarchy. He also analyzes Dubai's awkward relationship with its
federal partners in the United Arab Emirates and highlights some of the pitfalls of being the
region's most successful free port-its attractiveness to international criminal fraternities, the
economy of the global black market, and terrorist networks.
Columbia University Press book page (US edition)
Hurst & Co. book page (UK edition)
Amazon.com book page (US edition)
Amazon.co.uk book page (UK edition)
Excerpts:
Table of contents
Chapter 3 'Foundations of a Free Port'
Reviews:
Financial Times
Los Angeles Times (syndicated in Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Enquirer, etc.)
New York Times
Foreign Affairs
International Affairs
The Historian
Political Studies Review
Journal of Regional Science
New York Review of Books
Spiked Review of Books
Markets Media
Columbia Daily Spectator
Angry Arab News Service
Foreign Policy (in Spanish)
H-Net (in German)
Talouselema (in Finnish)
Al-Quds Al-Arabi (in Arabic)
Darussalem.ae (in Arabic)
Other features:
London Evening Standard 27/11/08 'Book Club Best of 2008'
New Statesman 13/11/08 'Books of the Year 2008'
Time Out Dubai 29/9/09 'Chris Davidson: Barely Legal'
Times Higher Education 4/9/08 'UAE's Ban on Book About Dubai Reveals Gulf in Values'
Guardian 15/9/08 'Dubai Censors Ban Book'
Guardian 15/9/08 'UAE Denies Dubai Study was Ever Banned'
Times Higher Education 25/9/08 'UAE Censors Opt to Approve Controversial Gulf Book'
The Browser 'Jo Tatchell on Desert Nations'
Times 16/2/09 'Geraldine Bedell's Novel Banned in Dubai because of Gay Character'
Foreign Policy 1/4/10 'Waste Land: The Literature of Dubai's Doomed Quest to Become a
Cultural Mecca'
Centre for Social Cohesion 31/3/09 'The Funding of Strategically Important Subjects in UK
Universities'
Al-Akhbar 'The Dubai Bubble' (in Arabic)
Coverage in Dubai/UAE state-affiliated media prior to Dubai crash:
The National 15/8/08 'Media Council Denies Book Ban'
Al-Khaleej 10/3/09 'Dubai: The Writer and the Book' (in Arabic)
Gulf News 14/3/09 'Give Dubai its Due Diligence'
Gulf News 16/4/09 'Through Tinted Glass'
Christopher M. Davidson
Published May 2008 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008; London: Hurst &Co., 2008)
Dubai has a remarkable success story. Since its origins as a small fishing and pearling
community, the emirate has steadily grown in strength to become the premier trading center of
the Persian Gulf. It is also the locus of an exciting and innovative architectural revolution.
Despite its lack of democratization and a genuine civil society, Dubai is now a booming
metropolis of more than two million people, most of whom are expatriates benefiting from the
city's increasingly diversified economy. Following a detailed history, Christopher M. Davidson
presents an in-depth study of Dubai's post-oil development strategies and their implementation
during a period of near-complete political stability. Davidson addresses the probability of
future problems as the need for sustained foreign direct investment encourages far-reaching
socioeconomic reforms, many of which may affect the ideological, religious, and cultural
legitimacy of the traditional monarchy. He also analyzes Dubai's awkward relationship with its
federal partners in the United Arab Emirates and highlights some of the pitfalls of being the
region's most successful free port-its attractiveness to international criminal fraternities, the
economy of the global black market, and terrorist networks.
Columbia University Press book page (US edition)
Hurst & Co. book page (UK edition)
Amazon.com book page (US edition)
Amazon.co.uk book page (UK edition)
Excerpts:
Table of contents
Chapter 3 'Foundations of a Free Port'
Reviews:
Financial Times
Los Angeles Times (syndicated in Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Enquirer, etc.)
New York Times
Foreign Affairs
International Affairs
The Historian
Political Studies Review
Journal of Regional Science
New York Review of Books
Spiked Review of Books
Markets Media
Columbia Daily Spectator
Angry Arab News Service
Foreign Policy (in Spanish)
H-Net (in German)
Talouselema (in Finnish)
Al-Quds Al-Arabi (in Arabic)
Darussalem.ae (in Arabic)
Other features:
London Evening Standard 27/11/08 'Book Club Best of 2008'
New Statesman 13/11/08 'Books of the Year 2008'
Time Out Dubai 29/9/09 'Chris Davidson: Barely Legal'
Times Higher Education 4/9/08 'UAE's Ban on Book About Dubai Reveals Gulf in Values'
Guardian 15/9/08 'Dubai Censors Ban Book'
Guardian 15/9/08 'UAE Denies Dubai Study was Ever Banned'
Times Higher Education 25/9/08 'UAE Censors Opt to Approve Controversial Gulf Book'
The Browser 'Jo Tatchell on Desert Nations'
Times 16/2/09 'Geraldine Bedell's Novel Banned in Dubai because of Gay Character'
Foreign Policy 1/4/10 'Waste Land: The Literature of Dubai's Doomed Quest to Become a
Cultural Mecca'
Centre for Social Cohesion 31/3/09 'The Funding of Strategically Important Subjects in UK
Universities'
Al-Akhbar 'The Dubai Bubble' (in Arabic)
Coverage in Dubai/UAE state-affiliated media prior to Dubai crash:
The National 15/8/08 'Media Council Denies Book Ban'
Al-Khaleej 10/3/09 'Dubai: The Writer and the Book' (in Arabic)
Gulf News 14/3/09 'Give Dubai its Due Diligence'
Gulf News 16/4/09 'Through Tinted Glass'
