The UAE’s Military Strategy and Middle East Regional Order: A Critical Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as one of the most strategically active small states in the Middle East, combining military modernization, alliance-building, counterterrorism cooperation and humanitarian-security engagement to project influence beyond its demographic size. However, the literature on the UAE remains fragmented across separate discussions of military capability, foreign policy activism, strategic partnerships and soft power. This article critically reviews the scholarship on the UAE’s evolving military strategy and examines how it relates to broader questions of regional order in the Middle East. It focuses on four interconnected dimensions: military modernization and technological advancement, security alliances and strategic partnerships, counterterrorism and security operations besides humanitarian and peace-making roles. The article argues that these dimensions should not be treated in isolation, as together they constitute an integrated strategic posture through which the UAE seeks to enhance deterrence, protect national interests, expand regional influence and project legitimacy. Drawing on Balance of Power Theory and Collective Security Theory, the article develops a conceptual framework for understanding the UAE’s strategic behaviour while also identifying the limits of both approaches when applied to a small but ambitious state operating in a volatile regional environment. Rather than presenting original empirical findings, the article advances a mixed-methods research agenda to examine how these dimensions shape elite and expert perceptions of the UAE’s role in regional order. The article contributes by synthesizing previously disconnected strands of scholarship, clarifying key conceptual distinctions and offering a more coherent analytical foundation for future empirical research on the UAE’s military and strategic rise.