Elite v. Geography: Actors, Structures and Qatar Foreign policy

Authors

  • Author

  • Marwan Kabalan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12816/0045181

Keywords:

Qatar Foreign Policy, the Gulf Crisis, Elite

Abstract

​Qatari foreign policy presents a challenge for students of international relations. Whereas major theories within the field tend to privilege structural factors in explaining the action of states, and particularly small states, in the case of Qatar, the quality of leadership and the strategies that leadership employs to navigate through the structural constraints—primarily geography—are equally important. One of the main findings of this paper is that the strategies adopted by the Qatari elite since 1995 did alleviate many of the structural constraints which the country would otherwise have faced. Moreover, during the short-lived Arab Spring of 2011-2013, Qatar tried to reshape the political landscape in the Middle East to its favor, challenging the two regional hegemons Saudi Arabia and Iran, in Egypt and Syria respectively. Yet, the paper concludes, geopolitical factors and the relative capabilities of states remain instrumental in assuring a state’s sustained capacity to continue playing a key role. This is particularly true in a region where elite thinking continues to be defined by realpolitik.

Author Biography

  • Marwan Kabalan
    Head of Policy Analysis, the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.

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4Total citations
3From ACRPS journals
1External sources

Citing articles in ACRPS journals (3)

  1. (2026) الدبلوماسية الرياضية أداةً لبناء القوة الناعمة: حالة قطر. Siyasat Arabiya https://doi.org/10.31430/CNQV2909
  2. (2021) نحو إطار نظري في صناعة القوة الناعمة. Siyasat Arabiya https://doi.org/10.31430//BVGN3307
  3. (2019) قطر والولايات المتحدة الأميركية: تحولات العلاقة وحدود التوافق والاختلاف. Siyasat Arabiya

Citing articles from external sources (1)

  1. محسن جابر, علي ديهوم, ابوبكر المحروق (2022) القوة الناعمة ودورها في تنفيذ السياسة الخارجية القطرية(1995 – 2020م). مجلة العلوم الاقتصادية والسياسية, 19(1), 35 https://doi.org/10.59743/epj.v19i1.16

Sources: Crossref Cited-by, and the references (notes and reference lists) of the Center's own articles

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Vol. 5 No. 028 (2017): Issue 028

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