The United Arab Emirates, often abbreviated as UAE or shortened to The Emirates, is a federation situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Iran.
Termed emirates because they are ruled by emirs, they are
Before 1971, the UAE was known as the
The UAE's political system, based on its 1971 Constitution, is composed of several intricately connected governing bodies. Islam is the official religion, and Arabic is the official language.
Its oil reserves are ranked as the world's sixth-largest and the UAE possesses one of the most-developed economies in
Although the UAE has a constitution and a president, it is neither a constitutional monarchy nor a republic. It is a federation of seven monarchies, whose rulers retain absolute power within their emirates. The emirs chose one of their number to be the president of the federation, but this does not alter the monarchical character of the government of the emirates. The constitution is concerned solely with the relations between the emirates as members of the federation, and does not prescribe a constitutional system of government.
The UAE is a founding member of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, and a member state of the Arab League. It is also a member of the United Nations, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the OPEC, and the World Trade Organization.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates