After remaining for years the de facto ruler under his brother Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed ascended to power in the United Arab Emirates after he was the international face of his country in the region and the world, where he was behind making unprecedented decisions in its history to participate in the Yemen war and normalization with Israel.
The 61-year-old leader will be the country’s third president, succeeding his brother Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who passed away on May 13, at the age of 73.
His Highness was born on March 11, 1961, and has played an active role in the development of the emirate of Abu Dhabi for more than three decades, during which time it has witnessed rapid economic and social transformation.
His Highness is known, and has been for a long time, to be the driving force behind many initiatives that have contributed to the emirate of Abu Dhabi's security and economic growth and diversity.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. His training included a basic armour course, a basic flying course, helicopters and tactical planes, and a parachutist course. His Highness has piloted the Gazelle helicopter armour and fleet, as well as attended fly school and air college.
Before becoming Armed Forces Chief of Staff in 1993, His Highness held two positions: Commander of the UAE Air Force and Air Defense and Deputy Armed Forces Deputy Chief of Staff. A year after graduating, he was promoted to General.
Following the death of the late Sheikh Zayed (may he rest in peace) in 2004, and the election of his elder brother, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed al Nahyan, as President of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed was assigned as Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces in 2005, and was promoted to LT General.
In addition to His Highness’s military responsibilities, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed was a key security advisor to his late father, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan – may he rest in peace.
In November 2003, he was also appointed Deputy Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. His Highness in November 2004, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed was appointed Vice President of the Executive Council and later Chairman.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed is a member of the Supreme Petroleum Council, which oversees the oil and energy industries. His Highness has received numerous decorations and medals from the UAE and other countries including the Kingdom of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, China, South Korea, Malaysia, and the United Nations.
Economic diversity is regarded as one of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed's priority issues in his efforts to achieve the emirate of Abu Dhabi's overall growth. His Highness was the Chairman of the UAE Offset Program Bureau (Offset), which works on executing investments by establishing feasibility projects in various sectors to aid in the diversification of the UAE's economy. Mubadala Development Company was established in 2002 to become one of Abu Dhabi Government's main investment entities, with the goal of achieving long-term social and economic benefits for the emirate.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed has always prioritized education, whether public or private, from elementary school to secondary school and higher education. His Highness served as the Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Education Council, which was founded in 2005. Since its inception, the Abu Dhabi Education Council has overseen and developed the emirate's education sector by conducting studies and involving students and parents in assessment processes, as well as communicating with high international educational institutions to exchange innovative initiatives aimed at developing the education sector.
Under Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed's leadership, the UAE constructed the region's first peaceful nuclear power reactor, the Barakah nuclear power plant. The UAE and the United States signed a bilateral agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation, which raises international nuclear non-proliferation standards. Mohamed attended the 2012 and 2014 Nuclear Security Summits, which were hosted by South Korea and the Netherlands, respectively.
Political scientist Christopher Davidson has characterized Mohamed's tenure as de facto UAE leader as entailing a "a marked and rapid intensification of autocratic-authoritarianism."
Democracy indicators show "recent and substantial efforts to tighten up almost all remaining political and civic freedoms". According to Andreas Krieg, Mohamed's political ideology holds that strongman authoritarianism is the optimal governance system for the UAE.
Krieg writes: "MbZ envisaged the creation of a new Middle Eastern state... Statecraft would be the prerogative of the autocratic, centralized ruler whose transactional relationship with his subordinates was supposed to be governed by both means of accommodation and repression. The ideal strongman, from MbZ’s point of view, was in control of the security sector, both military and law enforcement, and governed over a society emancipated from religious conservatism and empowered by capitalist market structures... Abu Dhabi’s paranoia over political dissidence was further fuelled by the developments of the Arab Spring to which MbZ internally reacted by further curtailing the freedom of speech, thought and assembly in the country... MbZ’s fierce state has moved against any civil society activism in the country outside state control."
