Political Reforms in Qatar: From Authoritarianism to Political Grey Zone (Gulf Studies at Gerlach Press)

In the past decade, Qatar has emerged as one of the world's most proactive mediators in the international arena. It has also experienced a number of domestic changes to its economic infrastructure, welfare system and political system, along with material improvement in its citizens' standard of living. Nonetheless, despite such radical and rapid advances, political reform in Qatar has proved to be relatively tentative. This book examines political reforms in Qatar from an analytical, normative, ideological and empirical perspective. It applies the main concepts and theories found in the literature on democratic transition. The book also presents different aspects of political reform in Qatar, including those prior to the formation of the state. Five elements are discussed as the reason of why the political reform process in Qatar has stagnated in the political "Grey Zone": Absolute power of the ruler over the political institutions; tribal social structure in Qatar; rentier style social contract; lack of public demand for reforms and politically apathetic society; new regional and international atmosphere, emerging after Arab Spring.