Development administration in the United Arab Emirates : a socio-political approach

This study is concerned with the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) development administration with particular emphasis on the effect of its social and cultural features on its bureaucracy and indigenous civil servants. The thesis analyses the U.A.E.'s political and historical background and its effects on the federal bureaucracy. It stresses that unless we understand the political and historical origins of the country, we will not be able to comprehend its administrative system. The study examines the ecology of the U.A.E.'s public administration. It identifies socio-cultural, educational and demographic variables as the three main ecological forces that play a significant role. The thesis provides a theoretical appraisal of the working of the federal administrative machinery in the U.A.E. It examines the administrative functions of the Federal Council of Ministers and the Federal Civil Service Council and identifies their weaknesses. The study explores the administrative problems facing the federal bureaucracy. Administrative inflation, shortage of indigenous skilled manpower, lack of job classification and the weakness of federal apparatuses in comparison to their local counterparts are the major stumbling blocks in the way of efficient administration in the U.A.E. Through a questionnaire based survey which obtained 312 (81%) responses the thesis empirically confirms the linkage between the indigenous employees' administrative performance and the socio-cultural variables surrounding them. It reveals that most of the irrational attitudes and behaviour of indigenous employees are not solely the result of corruption but rather of the social and cultural pressures which force them to apply particularistic approaches i.e. nepotism, favouritism,etc, in order to satisfy their familial interests over their organizational interests. Accordingly, most indigenous civil servants decline to recognize the administrative obligations of their jobs as being more essential than their familial obligations