The British-drafted provisional constitution for the new United Arab Emirates was signed on 2nd December 1971; but it remained provisional for some years, with each Emirate still largely autonomous – they pursued their own foreign policies, ran their own financial, education and health systems, and maintained their own armies. That went on till 1996, when Dubai agreed to merge its own militia into the fledgling UAE defence force, the constitution was finally made permanent,  and Sheikh Zayed’s carefully-nurtured vision of an integrated UAE was finally realised.

There’s a case for regarding 1996 rather than 1971 as the birth of the nation.