What is it about?
This article's subject is the state of the United Arab Emirates, established in 1971 in a primarily desert area with approximately 180,000 inhabitants, almost entirely Arab. Today, the country is home to over 10 million people from over 200 nations and is undergoing a massive transformation. However, to avoid the consequences of becoming dependent on oil revenues, the UAE (top oil producer) is implementing economic diversification programs. This process is accompanied by a dynamic development of the state's activity in space. The research objective is to examine the UAE's space sector's phenomenon and diplomatic activity, which impacts the country's economic diversification. Consequently, research questions were posed: what initiatives can significantly contribute to the development of the UAE space industry, nonoil export, and, consequently, to economic diversification? What international space programs should be crucial for diplomacy? At the epistemology level, within the theoretical framework, the paper applied international political economy to explain the issue of diversification. Meanwhile, economic development theory focuses on production, consumption, and trade changes. In its light, the article discusses the rentier state theory, the concept of the resource curse, and the "Dutch disease" syndrome.
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Why is it important?
This article contributes to the international political economy literature by raising the new context of the UAE’s space industry and its diplomacy committed to economic diversification. There is extensive literature on ways to move away from dependence on one sector and the negative consequences for the oil-based economy, such as a rentier economy, resource curse, Dutch disease, and price volatility. However, the current scientific literature lacks a publication drawing attention to the role and importance of the potential of the UAE space industry in its economic diversification.
Perspectives
Economic diplomacy by expanding economic cooperation involving foreign nations and international organizations is meant to contribute to the expansion and economic diversification of the UAE. Technology and innovation diplomacy is collaboration to obtain new technology, including for the space sector, whose tool is also space diplomacy. The dynamically developing global space sector, whose value will exceed USD 1 trillion by 2030, is an excellent opportunity to attract investments for the local industry.
Professor Adam Krzymowski
Zayed University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Economic Diversification of the United Arab Emirates through the Space Sector and Its Diplomacy, Virtual Economics, December 2024, The London Academy of Science and Business Limited,
DOI: 10.34021/ve.2024.07.04(2).
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