Status of Qatar from Foreign Policy: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

Qatar has determined on foreign policy strategy for international relations. In the context of
Qatar, the quality of leadership and the strategies employed by that leadership to manoeuvre through
structural constraints primarily geography are of equal significance. This is despite the fact that the
predominant theories in the field frequently place an emphasis on structural factors to explain state
actions, particularly those of small states. This essay makes a number of important points, one of which
is that the strategies that have been used by the Qatari elite since 1995 have been of great assistance to
the country in avoiding many of the structural issues that it would have otherwise been forced to deal
with. Furthermore, Qatar made an effort to shift the political dynamics in the Middle East to its favour
during the short Arab Spring that occurred between 2011 and 2013. This was accomplished by opposing
the two leading regional powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, in Egypt and Syria, respectively. According to
the findings of the study, geopolitical conditions and the relative capabilities of nations continue to prove
to be crucial factors in determining whether or not a state can continue to play a prominent role. This is
particularly true in a region where realpolitik continues to be a dominant source of ideas among elites.