ABSTRACT
The postwar atmosphere was conducive to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) enhancing its role in the region. The Abu Musa affair underscored the necessity for the UAE to protect itself against potential threats, leading it to make its largest-ever investment in defense. The UAE needed to be perceived both by its own population and by the outside world as a genuine country worth defending rather than as a nominally federated group of ministates. Seeking to maximize its available option of regional alliance, the UAE launched a diplomatic offensive to gain support in the Gulf region, the Arab arena and elsewhere. The UAE made its largest-ever investment in defense in 1992, accounting for 46% of federal expenditure. Developments in military policy reflected a maturing of the federal process. The UAE apparently reappraised the relevance of individual emirate autonomy at a time when international and regional affairs were increasingly being dominated by vast trading blocs.
