In 2014, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) embarked on a bold experiment: It began drafting young men into the military. But as a CSIS Middle East Program research team discovered, the UAE’s move to press young men into military service is not merely a response to security challenges. It is a stunningly ambitious experiment to use the military to shape a new kind of citizen for the future of the UAE.

What is the UAE trying to gain? What are the intended and unintended consequences likely to be? And why should we care sitting in Washington, D.C.? In this episode, Jon Alterman and Margo Balboni discuss the questions driving their exploration of the UAE draft and preview expert conversations bringing diverse insights into these themes in coming episodes.