Dubai’s old guard takes the reins

* username: rupertbu

Ibn Khaldoun, the great Arab philosopher-historian, predicted that urban elites would grow so fat on the excesses of power that they would be ousted by hardier Bedouin tribes. They, in turn, would be seduced by the ease of sedentary life and succumb to another generation of desert warriors, creating an endless circle of renewal.

In Dubai, a contemporary version of his theory is being played out 18 months into the emirate’s deepest recession since the famines that followed the second world war.

The giants of the Dubai boom years are seeing their influence wane, or being ousted altogether, as the ruler of the city state, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, allows a more conservative class to return to prominence.