GME Application

• What does "OOC" and "IC" mean, what are the differences ?

OOC is Out of Character. IC is In-Character. OOC should not influence nor dictate IC actions and country views.

• How can a player such as yourself, prevent Meta-Gaming ?

Open communication with regional moderation team regarding RP standards and remaining true to reasonable alternate history that can be accurately explained. Additionally, not bringing OOC viewpoints and information into the IC environment.

• How can a player such as yourself, prevent Power-Gaming ?

By understanding the realistic limitations of a nation while not overpowering capabilities of a nation no matter resource potential, geographic placement, etc. This is only prevented by clear communication with moderation team but also general knowledge of a claimed space.

SECTION II | Fill out the information of your claim.

Name of your nation: Alzarikstan

Location of your nation on the map: UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman

Capital City: Abu Dhabi

Demographics of your nation: Ethnic: 35% South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi), 12% Other (Combined other Ethnicities present), 53% Arab; Religion: 80% Islam (Sunni, Shia, Ibadi), 7% Hindu, 7% Christianity, 6% Other

Population of your nation: 18,100,000

Economics: Nominal GDP: $721.76 Billion; GDP per capita: $39,876.24

Leader of your nation: Your Excellency President Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan

Government type of your nation: Federal Constitutional Monarchy among wealthy tribal sheikhs with Unicameral Federal Supreme Council. The Presidency rotates among the wealthy sheikhs that comprise the executive authority of the nation.

Brief history of your nation: Prior to the independence of the British Persian Gulf Arab State client states in the late 1970s, a stipulation to guarantee a Western bastion within the Persian Gulf would be the unity of the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. These conversations and ultimate agreement would finalize after the Dhofar Rebellion in Oman that lasted from 1962-1975, subsequently showing London and the United States the necessity of preserving stability in a growingly important energy artery to the global economy. The stipulation of independence provided to the Sheikhs, especially as the UK installed British officials and advisors throughout the governments of the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar, surrounded the ideal of uniting oil rich wealthy sheikhs to achieve not only a containment corridor against Communism in the Middle East but also the rising Arab Nationalism from Gamal Nasser and the variants of Ba'athism rising in the Levant. This policy also stressed a subtle covert need to balance the Islamic fundamentalism that was growing within Saudi Arabia with Wahhabism, leading up to the 1979 Siege of Mecca. Seeing this as the opportunity to obtain freedom and independence, the gathered sheikhs from the small Arab nations came to an agreement to formalize a new polity within the Persian Gulf that preserved the sheikhdoms/emirates via sharing the power and authority of the executive branch through a rotating Presidential structure that also serves to protect their vested interests and sources of power across the new nation. Utilizing vast energy deposits and investments into strategic infrastructure, city planning, and education, the United Trucial States would begin a long integrative process. The integrative process could be from 1979 - 1985 for the first process that became known with continual legislative debates and in-fighting among the sheikhs resulting in near collapse of the project, 1985-1993 for the second process that became synonymous with cross-tribal reconciliatory councils and formations of religious institutions to oversee social transformations and political responsibility between the government and the people, new constitution in 1996 to formalize the first stable political and socioeconomic structures that upholds the federal constitutional monarchy system, third integrative process 1998-2005 that saw the rise of competitive state guided market economy and the introduction of state-owned enterprises and a vast push toward decentralization of major oil and energy companies (the state still owns 62% of assets of new energy companies), and then final integrative process from 2005-2014. The entire process of achieving the desired new identity would become reality in 2017 with the final amending of the constitution, which included the dropping of the United Trucial States of Arabia to the United Arab Emirates. This would be a very diverse and complex but proud small Arab nation that would seek active engagement in the Middle East and Muslim World but also seek to remain peaceful. It would have slight authoritarian aspects domestically as well wrapped in like a pseudo-democracy.

The period of the Arab Springs would push the Trucial States to near capitulation as the populace would demand political concessions via addressing corruption, poverty, and lack of socioeconomic opportunities. Despite the wishes of the sheikhs, in order to preserve their power and positions, political concessions were granted to transform the Federal Supreme Council to allocate 33% of representative seats to direct democracy vote, indicating popular supported candidates can become directly involved in legislation while operating as a minority voting bloc to check and balance the executive and to some degree the sheikhs. This compromise saved the nation but still serves as a bedrock for complications and a form of demanding attention from the social and political elites.

From 2011-2018, the influx of South Asian workers began to instigate social tensions, especially between Muslims and Hindus, as Arabs within the lower economic brackets began to feel alienated from socioeconomic opportunities and jobs. Continual protests in Abu Dhabi and clashes in Doha would force the government to understand because of its desires for the development and construction of large scale city planning and strategic infrastructure to boost modernity and advancements came at a price of diminished social cohesion with an increase in social and ethnic diversity. As South Asian representation in the population continued to increase, Arabs would continue to demand legislation that guaranteed social and economic assurances to ethnic Arabs regarding competitive chances to seek employment and higher income while not being displaced by cheap imported labor. Understanding that if Abu Dhabi did not negotiate and resolve this growing problem, the stability of the new nation was at stake. Thus 2018-2019 was highlighted with policies of decreasing importation of foreign workers and the implementation of domestic job training and employment accessibility initiatives with the central government allocating $5.5 billion toward new education and job programs to increase local employment and decrease Arab unemployment rates while maintaining a cap on the current number of expats currently in the nation and expected to enter the nation. This policy included a 2 year ban on expats (similar to the IRL Omani expat policy during the Arab Spring) to ensure Arabs were able to be trained and properly assimilated into the workforce.

At the current moment of the nation, government leaders are in the position to continue addressing social and domestic tensions and issues while keeping an eye on ongoing regional and periphery geopolitical trends and events to ensure that its original reason of being, a bastion of stability and a Pro-West corridor, can continue peacefully without much challenging.

Previous Roleplay Experience : Very Experienced. 10 years of roleplaying. Went on a hiatus recently to finish graduate school and start a career as a contractor in DC working with CENTCOM and INDOPACOM. This spot will allow me to not only grow in my understandings of the region further but also apply new knowledge and insights from the region into rp to bring more dynamism and interest. Additionally, this opportunity would allow for me to read more about the region and people and apply some cultural analytics as I travel to and from the region. Additional 5-6 years of wargaming and crisis resolution experience to incorporate into my rps as well.

Flag Link: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Flag_of_the_United_Arab_Emirates.svg/640px-Flag_of_the_United_Arab_Emirates.svg.png