Al Maktoum er Dubais absolutte hersker og premierminister i UAE,<ref>{{Kilde nyheder|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51762543|title=Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum: Who is Dubai's ruler?|date=16. februar 2021|work=BBC News|access-date=21. august 2021|language=en-GB}}</ref> en stilling som udpeget af præsidenten.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About the Government {{!}} UAE Embassy in Washington, DC|url=https://www.uae-embassy.org/about-uae/about-government|access-date=21. august 2021|website=www.uae-embassy.org|language=en}}</ref> Regeringen er autokratisk, da der ikke er nogen demokratiske institutioner, og intern uenighed er forbudt.<ref name=":102">{{Kilde nyheder |url=https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2009/11/26/standing-still-but-still-standing|title=Standing still but still standing|date=26. november 2009|work=The Economist|access-date=26. maj 2021|issn=0013-0613}}</ref><ref name=":112">{{Kilde nyheder|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sheikh-mohammed-al-maktoum-of-dubai-six-wives-30-children-and-a-14-year-reign-of-control-38x3zgb52|title=Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum of Dubai: six wives, 30 children and a 14-year reign of control|last=Correspondent|first=Louise Callaghan, Middle East|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=26. maj 2021|language=en|issn=0140-0460}}</ref><ref name=":122">{{Cite web|date=2009|title=Dubai faces self-made public image 'disaster'|url=https://www.ft.com/content/2c21584c-e67e-11de-98b1-00144feab49a|access-date=26. maj 2021|website=www.ft.com}}</ref><ref name=":132">{{Kilde bog|efternavn=Marozzi|fornavn=Justin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mP-EDwAAQBAJ&q=bin+rashid|titel=Islamic Empires: Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilization|dato=2019|udgiver=Penguin UK|isbn=978-0-241-19905-3|sprog=en|citat=There is no free speech in Dubai... criticism of the ruling family, or any other political activity, is absolutely prohibited... Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai}}</ref> Styret karakteriseres af forskere som [[Autoritarisme|autoritært]].<ref name=":142">{{Kilde bog |efternavn=Herb |fornavn=Michael |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt1287d29|titel=The Wages of Oil: Parliaments and Economic Development in Kuwait and the UAE|dato=2014|udgiver=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-5336-6|udgave=|sider=50, 128|jstor=10.7591/j.ctt1287d29|citat=The scores for the UAE on these measures are not unreasonable; it is an authoritarian regime... Sheikh Rashid, the ruler of Dubai, was made the prime minister of the federation}}</ref><ref name=":152">{{Kilde bog|efternavn=Yom|fornavn=Sean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tnm6DwAAQBAJ&q=%22prime+minister%22+%22bin+rashid%22+%22authoritarian%22&pg=PT421|titel=Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa: Development, Democracy, and Dictatorship|dato=2019|udgiver=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-75639-9|sider=Box 17.4|sprog=en}}</ref>
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