Introducing Citizens in Training: The Unlikely Story of the UAE’s National Military Service Program

03/12/18 • 7 min

In 2014, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) embarked on a bold experiment: It began drafting young men into the military. But as a CSIS Middle East Program research team discovered, the UAE’s move to press young men into military service is not merely a response to security challenges. It is a stunningly ambitious experiment to use the military to shape a new kind of citizen for the future of the UAE.

What is the UAE trying to gain? What are the intended and unintended consequences likely to be? And why should we care sitting in Washington, D.C.? In this episode, Jon Alterman and Margo Balboni discuss the questions driving their exploration of the UAE draft and preview expert conversations bringing diverse insights into these themes in coming episodes.

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Enlisting the Emirates

In this episode, Jon Alterman speaks to Dr. F. Gregory Gause, professor of international affairs and head of the international affairs department at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Greg assesses the durability of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) conscription project, its potential to spread beyond the UAE, and what the program reveals about the strategic thinking of the UAE's leadership. The UAE’s choices—not least the use of a military model for social engineering—will have important implications for Emiratis and any who seek to follow the UAE’s example.