Dubai is more than a story of skyscrapers built on sand with borrowed cash. Because the emirate’s oil reserves were limited, its rulers decided decades ago to diversify. Emirates Airline is the best-known result of this strategy: it started in 1985 and now ranks among the world’s leading carriers. The Jebel Ali Free Zone is one of the world’s biggest transit ports and the Dubai International Financial Centre the Middle East’s financial hub.

This role as a regional hub—and a policy of being open to almost any kind of business—explains why Dubai has been, at least economically, the main beneficiary of the Arab spring. Instability in the rest of the region has diverted capital, commerce and people to the emirate. When neighbouring Saudi Arabia upped its social spending to pre-empt protests, for instance, much of the cash ended up in Dubai’s shopping malls. More important, the emirate has clearly established itself as the region’s safe haven. “Dubai has created an environment where companies and expatriates want to be based,” says Monica Malik of EFG Hermes, an investment bank.  Article