Qatar is a small country on the Persian Gulf – it has neither a large population nor a vast land. Despite the fact that a large population and the size of the land are traditionally considered the main criteria for measuring the power of governments, but Qatar is totally different. Qatar’s population is estimated at over 2.8 million people, and the land has a total area of 11,610 km. But it is worth mentioning that there are other small countries with less population that were able to emerge as regional and sometimes international powers. Among them are the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Singapore which are small and sparsely populated countries but have a lot of political and economic power. Qatar is also on the same page and has been able to maintain power while having no large population and vast territory. Qatar has been considered small compared to many countries in the Middle East.
However, these small countries, including Qatar, play roles in the region and the world that large and vast governments are incapable of doing so. The roles that Qatar is taking on today and playing well should have been played by Saudi Arabia, Iran and other countries, which are considered as the great powers in the Middle East. Qatar had just hosted the World Cup and it also hosts hostile groups and countries to mediate between them to end their hostilities. Doha also hosts meetings that are launched to address major human crises. The latest example is the organization of a meeting led by the Secretary General of the United Nations regarding the Afghanistan crisis.
The question that is raised about Qatar is, what factors have caused this small country to become a big player in the region and the world? Here we try to explore some factors that caused Qatar to become a powerful country.
Qatar believes and uses soft power
One of the factors that have brought Qatar to the stage of being the most trusted partner to the world, can be found in this country’ successful use of soft power.
The big countries always want to use a carrot and stick approach to resolve an issue, and if a big country wants to force a small country to change its behavior, it either threatens it with military force or considers economic restrictions.
But soft power is the opposite of “hard” power. Soft power emphasizes more on culture, value, norm and procedure, which is what Qatar is doing today.
Soft power does not deal with coercion; That is, it can be said that it is a kind of non-coercive force that relies on persuasion and satisfaction. At the same time, the expansion of the phenomenon of globalization and the information and media revolution has made soft power more visible. The use of soft power has given small countries the opportunity not to accept every legal/illegal demands of the bigger countries.
For that cause, Qatar has resorted to the use of soft power in order to keep herself away from the danger of the influence of rival neighbors.
The power of media
Indeed, the media outlets are considered as the most important, simple and effective means of spreading soft power. Qatar has used this tool well so far. Qatar uses Al-Jazeera, a big, famous and spectacular media to benefit its country.
Al Jazeera has been able to spread Qatar’s soft influence not only in the region, but also in the world. Today, this media has become one of the biggest international media and has many branches all over the world.
Two factors have contributed to the growth of this media – one is that it had a critical view of the situation in the Arab world. Before, there was no reliable media in the Arab countries and if it existed, it would serve the rulers, not the people.
But Al Jazeera broke the tradition of the ruling media and criticized the rulers and political systems ruling the Arab countries.
Second, Al Jazeera did well in critical coverage of the war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and also the Arab Spring in 2011. It also had a critical view of the US military attack on Afghanistan and Iraq, which was able to direct public opinion in the Islamic world towards supporting this media.
Similarly, it has repeatedly reflected the killing of Palestinians by the Israeli army with a critical view and emphasis on the Arab-Islamic identity.
The establishment of Al Jazeera and its unflinching support has helped Qatar to expand its soft power while no other Arab countries owned any media outlet instead hell-bent on its suppression.
Sports, another key soft power
Sports and the latest launch of the football world cup are another means of expanding soft power that Qatar has the capacity to use. Important to mention that Qatar pays special attention to sports, especially football, as a major global game, and welcomes the launch of sports competitions in different forms.
Football cannot be called only a sport in today’s world. It is true that football is a kind of sport, but it is a sport whose value cannot be denied in the political relations of the world.
It is difficult to separate between sports and politics, especially football. This difficulty is either due to the influence of politics on sports or sports on politics.
It can be said that football has gone beyond the field of sports and has surrounded the field of politics as well. Countries try to use sports for the benefit of politics. Any country that shines in the field of sports also affects its brilliance in the field of politics. For example, consider holding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Qatar proved to be a good host for launching such big tournaments. It was the first time that the World Cup was held in an Arab country and Qatar’s brilliant hosting shocked the countries of the region.
The public opinion across the world was more on Qatar as a host country rather than the winner and loser of this big tournament.
Less population
Interestingly, Qatar’s small population has been more of an advantage than a disadvantage. It is true that a large population can demonstrate the “hard” power of a government, but if the proportion between large population and economic growth is not established, it becomes an “Achilles’ heel” that can lead to the downfall. But in regards to China, it is a different story with its number one population in the world. Top secret of China’s success lies in its ability to balance a large population with economic growth.
The advantage of Qatar is that it has a small population, low diversity, but high accumulation of wealth. High population is not compatible with low accumulation of wealth and if the population grows it does not fit the society and will lead to the government’s failure to provide adequate services to the people and provide economic welfare. It was difficult for Qatar to deal with a population existing in Iraq and Lebanon.
Worth mentioning that less population and low diversity have caused Qatar to effectively use its natural resources, including oil and gas.
It has been said that Qatar ranks third in gas exports after Russia and Iran and thirteenth in oil exports in the world.
Meanwhile, there is general satisfaction with the ruling political system in Qatar. This satisfaction is owed to the government’s success in providing economic welfare for the citizens.
Another important point about Qatar is that it has no internal rifts and that’s why it focuses more on world issues. As can be seen, Qatar is less concerned with domestic issues and spends most of its energy on foreign affairs.
Qatar opens office for Taliban
In 2013, Qatar established an office for the Taliban, the current ruler of Afghanistan. Taliban returned to power in15 August 2021 after the hasty withdrawal of foreign troops.
Taliban still maintains its office in Doha, and is busy carrying out political activities, including meetings with top foreign diplomats. The Taliban and the US also signed the Doha agreement under which a republic system in Afghanistan which was supported by the US and western countries in the past 20 years has collapsed and its army has been disintegrated.
Qatar, for many years, hosted talks between Taliban members and US delegation to negotiate over safe withdrawal with foreign troops from Afghanistan.
Qatar had also hosted delegations of the Taliban and the previous government of Afghanistan as part of peace talks.
Success in holding political talks as well as sports events and interaction with the countries of the region has been able to increase Qatar’s role-playing power.
Despite the fact that this country is at odds with some of its neighbors and countries in the region, it has never stopped interaction with them and didn’t let these difference become larger.
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