Wasatiyyah in Practice: The UAE’s Ethics-Based Governance Architecture as a Civilizational Model for Pluralistic Coexistence

Abstract

Most ways of governing cultural and religious diversity today come from Western liberal political ideas. These methods usually focus on being neutral and not favoring specific values. This paper questions that approach. It argues that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has created its own way of governing. It is based on the Islamic idea of wasatiyyah, which means moderation. This is a fresh idea for comparing different cultures. Using documents, policies, and a special framework called the Multi-Scalar Ethics Institutionalization Index (MSEII), this study looks at how wasatiyyah is put into practice in four areas: laws, diplomacy, public spaces, and education. The paper says that the result is an ethics-based way of governing. In this approach, moral values from the Quran guide how people live together, instead of just being neutral. The UAE government does not stay out of moral issues but actively promotes them. The findings introduce a new idea which is wasatiyyah governance to the study of various cultures and question whether liberal multicultural theory is the only way to understand coexistence.