Casa Árabe invited experts Neil Quilliam, Andreas Krieg, and Emma Soubrier, to analyze the emirate’s current role, at a conference held on October 18.

The conference was streamed live on our Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJECTcwWAQw&t=7s

Despite Qatar’s small size, covering less than 12,000 square kilometers, its geostrategic position has made it a key role-player in the Gulf. Economically powerful, Qatar is also vulnerable, though, as one of the least populated countries in the region. After the Arab Spring, all of the Gulf monarchies were forced to rethink their foreign policies, choosing to protect themselves from the winds of change blowing through the Middle East and North Africa. Doha took advantage of this situation to increase its presence and influence in the Arab regional arena by taking on a more active and independent role. This shift from its role as a mediator to an active role also meant expanding the soft power tools that had characterized its action abroad, including mediation in conflicts and the international outreach of the Al Jazeera channel, factors which have contributed to strengthening its international image while raising its prestige. Consequently, “the modern state of Qatar” conceived by Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani in 1995 has led the small emirate to become a state with a global reputation, a wide range of interests and investments, and powerful global allies. It is now able to exercise significant regional influence and mediate in complex conflicts, as it recently did between the Taliban in Afghanistan and the United States.

Further information: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/qatar-middle-power-and-mediator

Photo: Doha (Gilber Sopakuwa on Flickr)