State-led Change in Qatar in the Wake of Arab Spring: Monarchical Country,Democratic Stance?

Abstract

This article attempts to analyze the impact of current international and regional dynamics on Qatar’s foreign policy during Arab Spring with a special focus on the period from 2011 to 2013 coincided with former Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani’s leadership. Firstly, this study intends to comprehend Qatar’s inconsistencies and contradictions both in domestic and foreign policy by giving importance to the leading concern of Qatar, namely, the regime survival, and its visible reflections on Qatar’s regional and domestic stance. Subsequently, the article focuses on explaining the shifting position of Qatar toward Arab Spring in a different way, that is, through the concept of state-led change and the reasons behind how a tiny and monarchic country could adopt seemingly active role along with democratic discourse, albeit selective and conditional, toward the people’s uprisings between 2011 and 2013.

Keywords

Arab Spring Qatar Al-Thani Al-Jazeera

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Al Jazeera (2011, November 1). Qatar to hold legislative elections in 2013. Al Jazeera. Retrieved November 1, 2011, from http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/11/2011111204320763263.html

Alhedaithy

M.Z.

(2011). The relationships between the Arab satellite TV broadcasters and their audiences. School of Humanities, Education and Law Griffith University, Doctoral Thesis, pp. 1–251.

Andoni

(2011, December 30). Bahrain’s contribution to the Arab Spring. Al-Jazeera.

Arab News (2003, March 12). Qatar Municipal Council to get first woman member. Arab News. Retrieved March 12, 2003, from http://www.arabnews.com/node/229127

Awadi

(2013). Islamists in power: The case of Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. Contemporary Arab Affairs, 6(4), 539–551.

Ayyob

(2012). The Arab spring: It’s geostrategic significance. Middle East Policy, 19(3), 84–97.

Azem

A.J.

(2012, June 20). Qatar’s ties with the Muslim brotherhood affect entire region. Middle East Online.

Azran

T.S.

(2013). Al-Jazeera, Qatar, and new tactics in state-sponsored media diplomacy. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(9), 1293–1311.

Black

(2011, September 20). Al Jazeera boss Wadah Khanfar steps down to be replaced by Qatari royal. The Guardian.

10.

Bahry

(1999). Elections in Qatar: A window of democracy opens in the Gulf. Middle East Policy, 6(4), 118–127.

11.

Bahry

(2001). The new Arab media phenomenon: Qatar’s Al Jazeera. Middle East Policy, 8(2), 88–99.

12.

Bakshian

(2012, January/February). Eyes and ears of Arab spring. National Interest, 85–90.

13.

Bertelsmann

Stiftung

. (2012). Qatar Country Report. Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index, Gütersloh. Retrieved January 12, 2015, from http://www.bti-project.org/uploads/tx_itao_download/BTI_2012_Qatar.pdf

14.

Berti

Paris

(2014). Beyond sectarianism: Geopolitics, fragmentation, and Syrian civil war. Strategic Assessment, 16(4), 21–34.

15.

Boyce

S.G.

(2013). Qatar’s foreign policy. Asian Affairs, 44(3), 365–377.

16.

Central Intelligence Agency. (2012). The world factbook, Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved April 20, 2012, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ba.html

17.

Dargin

Justin

. (2007). Qatar’s natural gas: The foreign-policy driver. Middle East Policy, 14(3), 136–142.

18.

Ehrenfeld

(2011). The Muslim brotherhood evolution: An overview. American Foreign Policy Interests, 33(2), 69–85.

19.

Friedman

(2012, March/April). Battle for Bahrain: What one uprising meant for the Gulf States and Iran. World Affairs, 176(4), 74–84.

20.

Fromherz

A.J.

(2012). Qatar: A modern history. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

21.

Gause

F.G.

(2011, August). Why Middle East studies missed the Arab spring: The myth of authoritarian stability. Foreign Affairs.

22.

Gray

(2013). Qatar: Politics and the challenges of development. USA: Lynne Rienner Publisher.

23.

Haaretz (2011, December 1). Qatar urges West to embrace Islamists in wake of Arab Spring. Haaretz. Retrieved December 1, 2011, from http://www.haaretz.com

24.

Hamad

(1997, March). Will the Gulf monarchies work together? Middle East Quarterly, 4(1), 47–53.

25.

Helmich

(2008). Creating the ideology of Al Qaeda: From hypocrites to Salafi-Jihadists. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 31(2), 111–124.

26.

International Monetary Fund (2012). World Economic Outlook Database. World Economic and Financial Surveys. Retrieved January 12, 2015, from http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2012/02/weodata/index.aspx/weoselgr.aspx

27.

Kabalan

(2012, May 16). Qatar aspires for key regional role. Gulfnews.

28.

Kamrava

(2009). Royal factionalism and political liberalization in Qatar. Middle East Journal, 63(3), 401–420.

29.

Kamrava

(2011). Mediation and Qatari foreign policy. Middle East Journal, 65(4), 539–556.

30.

Kamrava

(2013). Qatar: Small state, big politics. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.

31.

Kazerooni

Prince

(2012, April). Salafists could roll Arab spring back to Arab winter. Foreign Policy in Focus.

32.

Kerckhove

F.D.

(2012, May). Egypt’s Muslim brotherhood and the Arab spring. Policy Update Paper, Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, Calgary, 1–4.

33.

Kessler

(2012). Two faces of Al-Jazeera. Middle East Quarterly, 19(1), 47–56.

34.

Khashanah

(2014). The Syrian crisis: A systematic framework. Contemporary Arab Affairs, 7(1), 1–21.

35.

Khatib

(2013). Qatar’s foreign policy: The limits of pragmatism. International Affairs, 89(2), 417–431.

36.

Koçgündüz

L.M.

(2010). The sparkling pearl of the Persian Gulf. Middle East Analysis, 26(3), 71–81.

37.

Kuwari

A.K.

(2012, November). The people want reform… in Qatar too. In Amin

Noe

Nicholas

(Eds), Qatar aspirations and realities (pp. 11–18). Heinrich Böll Foundation—Perspectives on Middle East and North Africa. Berlin: Heinrich Böll Foundation.

38.

Labbad

(2012, November). Qatar: Big ambitious, limited capabilities. In Amin

Noe

Nicholas

(Eds), Qatar aspirations and realities (pp. 18–23). Heinrich Böll Foundation—Perspectives on Middle East and North Africa. Berlin: Heinrich Böll Foundation.

39.

Lambert

(2011). Political reform in Qatar: Participation, legitimacy and security. Middle East Policy Council, 18(1), 89–101.

40.

Luomi

(2008). Sectarian identities or geopolitics: The regional Shi’a Sunni divide in Middle East. Working Paper 56, The Finish Institute of International Relations, 1–61.

41.

Middle East Online (2012, January 14). Qatari Emir incites Arabs to take action against Damascus. Middle East Online. Retrieved February 14, 2012, from http://www.middle-east-online.com/english

42.

Mitchell

(2012, Spring). The aborted revolution: The demise of Bahrain’s democracy movement. Harvard International Review, 33(4), 32–36.

43.

Monier

E.I.

Ranko

(2013). The fall of the Muslim brotherhood: Implications for Egypt. Middle East Policy, 20(4), 111–123.

44.

Peterson

J.E.

(2006). Qatar and the world: Branding for a micro-state. Middle East Journal, 60(4), 732–748.

45.

Qatar Country Report. (2012). Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index. 3–24.

46.

Rathmel

Schulze

(2000). Political reform in the Gulf: The case of Qatar. Middle Eastern Studies, 36(4), 47–62.

47.

Regier

Khalidi

M.A.

(2009). The Arab street: Tracking a political metaphor. Middle East Journal, 63(1), 11–29.

48.

Roberts

D.B.

(2012a). Understanding Qatar’s foreign policy objectives. Mediterranean Politics, 17(2), 233–239.

49.

Roberts

D.B.

(2012b). The Arab world’s unlikely leader: Embracing Qatar’s expanding role in the region. Project on Middle East Democracy: Policy Brief, 1–6.

50.

Schwarz

(2008). The political economy of state-formation in the Arab Middle East: Rentier states, economic reform, and democratization. Review of International Political Economy, 15(4), 599–621.

51.

Seib

(2011, September 27). The resignation of Wadah Khanfar and the future of Al-Jazeera. Foreign Affairs.

52.

Steinberg

Guido

. (2012). Qatar and the Arab Spring: Support for Islamists and Anti-Syrian Policy. German Institute for International and Security Affairs, SWP Comments, 1–8.

53.

Tabbara

(2012, October 23). Qatar Emir in Gaza: Doha pushes Islamist agenda to detriment of Palestinian Unity. Middle East Online.

54.

Tamamy

S.M.

(2012). Saudi Arabia and the Arab Spring: Opportunities and challenges of security. Journal of Arabian Studies: Arabia, the Gulf and Red Sea, 2(2), 143–156.

55.

Tetreault

M.A.

(2011). The winter of Arab Spring in the Gulf monarchies. Globalizations, 8(5), 629–637.

56.

The Arab millennials understanding the aspirations and attitudes of Middle East youth. Arab Survey Youth 2008, 2009, 2010.

57.

The Economist (2012, February 18). The Arab spring: A long march. The Economist. Retrieved February 2012, from http://www.economist.com

58.

The Economist (2012, October 20). Egypt’s Salafists: Dogma and Purity v Worldly Politics. The Economist. Retrieved March 20, 2013, from http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21564911-will-egypt%E2%80%99s-salafists-manage-evolve-party-practical-politics

59.

The Middle East (2010, June). Qatar: A beacon of stability in troubled times. The Middle East. Retrieved June 2010, from http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/53432293/qatar-beacon-stability-troubled-times

60.

Toumi

(2012, May 20). Israel must rethink policies after losing friends: Qatar Emir. Gulf News.

61.

Tudoroiu

(2013). The Arab spring: Last episode of the cold war. Contemporary Politics, 19(3), 304–320.

62.

Ulrichsen

K.C.

(2012). Small states with a big role: Qatar and United Arab Emirates in the wake of the Arab Spring. Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al –Sabah Publication Series, 1–11. Durham: Durham University.

63.

Valbjorn

(2012). Upgrading post-democratization studies: Examining a re-politicized Arab world in a transition to somewhere. Middle East Critique, 21(1), 25–35.

64.

Wallerstein

(2012, September). The geopolitics of Arab turmoil. Al-Jazeera Report, 1–6.

65.

Yousefi

A.M.H.

(2009), Whose agenda is served by the idea of a Shia crescent? Alternatives, 8(1), 114–135.

66.

World Economic Outlook Database (2012). http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2012/02/weodata/index.aspx