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The Formation of the Federation
         67 of the constitution. It is described as ‘‘the executive authority of
         the Union, and under the supreme control of the President of the
         Union and the Supreme Council, [it] shall be responsible for dealing
         with all domestic and foreign affairs” (Article 60). The catalogue of
         the powers of the Council, running to ten points, underlines its
         legislative capacity. A Union law is drafted here and then submitted
         to the National Assembly before being presented to the President.
         The Council of Ministers also drafts “decrees and various decisions”.
         The remainder of the catalogue firmly reinforces the executive
         authority of the Council.
           The examination of the powers which the constitution ascribes to
         the Union’s authorities indicates that the parliamentary organ, the
         National Assembly of the Union,134 is neither the exclusive nor the
         most prominent legislative authority in the stale, but in reality has a
         predominantly consultative character. It may not initiate bills but it
         discusses those which are submitted by the cabinet. In this first and
         provisional constitution the functions of the organ of popular
         representation are carefully tailored to the requirements of the
         nascent State. Thus the role of the forty delegates135 was envisaged to
         be generally to foster and enhance a growing sense of federal com­
         munal awareness and to represent the different regional interests,
         even though Article 77 states that a member ‘‘shall represent the
         whole people of the Union".
           The members of the Assembly do not have to be elected by popular
         vote, although each Emirate may devise its own system for selection
         of its quota of Assembly members. Here, too, the constitution is
         appropriate to the requirements of the new federation, because the
         nature of the tribal societies in each of the seven Emirates and the
         earlier absence of formal education limited the choice of suitable
         representatives to the small number of leading families. The
         Assembly’s main role as a key link to strengthen the Union does not
         prevent it from developing characteristics of other parliaments,
         becoming a substantial counter-weight to the executive, and voicing
         the opinion of a progressively more amorphous population. The
         constitution is sufficiently vague to allow for the discussion in the
         Assembly of most subjects, so that pressure may be exerted on the
         executive authorities of the State.136
           The provisions of the constitution dealing with the Judiciary
         (Articles 94 to 109) are more in accordance with textbook provisions
         than the specially tailored provisions dealt with so far. They provide
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