Tallest Building Opens

What stands 2,717 feet tall, has elevators that move at 40 mph and cost $1.5 billion to build? The Burj Dubai—the world’s tallest building, which opened last month.

The skyscraper houses a hotel, about 1,000 condominiums, small offices and an observatory on the 124th floor that is open to the public. The half-mile-high building was designed by architects in Chicago, who used a new structural system that made it possible to build a very tall, very thin tower. The skyscraper is in Dubai, one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The UAE is a federation of seven absolute monarchies: the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah and Umm al-Qaiwain. The president of the United Arab Emirates is its head of state and the prime minister is its head of government. All responsibilities not granted to the national government are given to the emirates—similar to the way federal and state government works in the United States.

Also, the UAE government has three branches: the executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch consists of the president, vice president, prime minister, Federal Supreme Council and a Council of Ministers (the cabinet). The Federal Supreme Council, composed of the emirs of the seven emirates, formulates government policy, proposes and ratifies national laws, and ratifies treaties.

The legislature is the Federal National Council, which consists of 40 members drawn from all the emirates. The council analyzes and AMENDS proposed legislation, but it cannot keep the proposals from becoming law.

UAE is located in the Middle East, between Oman and Saudi Arabia. The federation is slightly smaller than the state of Maine, but it has more than 800 miles of coastline because it is also bordered by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.