Over the last two decades, the UAE has emerged as one of the most influential states in the Middle East. It is admired globally for its infrastructure, economic ambition, technological modernization, and political stability. To many observers, it represents one of the most successful state-building projects in the modern Arab world.

But critics—including journalists, human rights investigators, UN panels, and sanctions authorities—argue that behind this image lies another story: the rise of a highly centralized security state capable of projecting power far beyond its borders through networks that combine finance, intelligence, logistics, and military influence.

This series examines that argument.