The UAE’s e-government services are among the world’s best and frequently involve using cutting-edge digital technologies more effectively than the countries that developed them. The culture of public administration plays a central role in helping us understand the country’s proficiency. It also reminds us how acquiring the best technologies is often the easiest rather than the hardest part of ensuring high-quality government services.
In September, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X that American citizens would be allowed to complete first-time passport applications online starting next year, following the previous launch of online renewal in late 2024. While many Americans rejoiced at the impending jump in convenience, Emiratis’ immediate reaction was most likely surprise that it has taken this long. The Emirates has been allowing online renewal since 2014 – using hardware and software created by Silicon Valley.
More generally, despite ranking a respectable 19th in the 2024 UN E-Government Development Index, the US was still eight positions below the UAE. Moreover, the actual quality of its e-services on the ground can be uneven. New York City’s municipal services are among the world’s very best, yet the disbursal of unemployment benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic was disrupted by antiquated systems dating back to the 1970s.
An analysis of the US-UAE difference in a transaction as seemingly straightforward as renewing a passport reveals a series of proximate causes.
On the technical side, the fragmentation of identification systems under America’s federal structure obstructs the process of generating a centralised workflow. On the administrative side, tightening security restrictions on employment within the federal government makes it harder for agencies to hire the top talent that America’s world-leading technology sector produces. At a broader social level, the partisanship that has developed in the political landscape reduces the incentive that politicians have to prioritise government service delivery.
However, these surface-level factors are manifestations of a much deeper difference between the US and the UAE in the culture of public administration.
More specifically, the US philosophy towards public administration developed in the 17th and 18th centuries when one of the most salient concerns held by elites and ordinary people alike was the need to erect safeguards that ensure that government officials act in the public interest. This mindset has been codified in the US Constitution and is the cornerstone of its social traditions.
In contrast, the UAE emerged in an era when people’s perception of government was that it is the primary vehicle for organising development and delivering prosperity to society. This is reflected in its own societal pillars including the UAE Vision 2021.
What plays a much more important role is a culture where where ensuring the comfort of citizens is considered by citizens and officials alike to be the state’s North Star
America’s history is intertwined with that of the UK, both because many of its population in the 17th and 18th centuries came directly from Britain and because the American intellectuals who drafted its Constitution drew heavy inspiration from the UK. This transmitted core cultural values that Americans take for granted today, with the repeated lesson being that unchecked power breeds abuse.
This started with Charles I’s conflict with parliament over taxation, culminating in the bloody English Civil War. The harsh, quasi-military rule of the Interregnum reinforced these fears, while the crisis precipitated by James II’s attempts at turning England back into a Catholic country brought about the 1688 Glorious Revolution and the institutionalisation of checks on the sovereign’s power, with the philosophical underpinning being provided by the work of thinkers such as John Locke.
These imported values were augmented by King George III’s transgressions in dealing with his American colonies, which ultimately caused the 1776 Revolution – a pivotal episode in shaping how ordinary Americans today think about the role of government.
The UAE’s history has forged a much more paternalistic and benign view of government. Traditional tribal institutions associated leadership with protection and responsibility for the community’s welfare. Following the formation of the federation in 1971, this relationship was reinforced by the transformation of living standards under leaders such as the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Within living memory, government directed the development of modern infrastructure, expanded access to education and health care and helped create opportunities that earlier generations could scarcely have imagined. This experience supports an expectation that leaders should actively guide development and mobilise public institutions to solve problems.
One result of these diverging US-UAE traditions is different reactions to an inadequate government service such as a malfunctioning passport renewal portal.
In the US, the culture prompts the view that “this confirms that civil servants cannot do anything properly”, demotivating politicians who are looking to address the technical and administrative barriers to success and reinforcing the cycle of distrust. In the UAE, in contrast, the culture brings about the response “give this institution the capability to fulfil its responsibilities”, with government agencies rising to the challenge of solving the problem.
A key lesson to draw from the example of passport renewal is that possessing the technology to digitise a government transaction is frequently the most straightforward issue that needs to be addressed. What plays a much more important role – and what is much harder to forge – is a culture where government officials do not tolerate failure, and where ensuring the comfort of citizens is considered by citizens and officials alike to be the state’s North Star.