P Kharel

Come November 2022, and the World Cup football takes off in Qatar, showcasing its riches, managerial skills, application of technology and diplomacy. Considered a pride of prestigious pursuit in being awarded FIFA’s venue for the top-notch tournament in which 32 world’s best and brightest soccer teams vie for the coveted crown, the oil and gas-rich emirate is already beaming with stupendous success.

Qatar is the first Asian state to be honoured with the cultivated commission—an occasion for displaying its capacity at infrastructure building, financing and organising the most popular sporting tournament. The prestige attached with it staggeringly immense.

Although Qatar is no Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Syria, it is credited with remarkable achievements in the recent years. Of its total population of slightly less than 3 million registers, 92 per cent are registered as foreign workers. It has no standing army. Not all states with the advantage of oil money have been able to establish a governance the emirate has so impressively demonstrated.
Recently, the Federation of African Journalists called for vigilance on the part of the Confederation of African Football against United Arab Emirates’ “despicable” and “manipulative attempts” at using “Africa and its institutions to manipulate journalists’ organisations to issue public statements against the 2022 FIFA World Cup “beyond their primary interests, scope and mandate”.

Inspiring initiatives
The World Cup is not the only source of eyesore to some of Qatar’s Gulf Arab neighbours. Headquartered in Doha, the Al Jazeera television network’s success with international audiences has incurred envy and displeasure from a powerful section of the Arab community as well as the dominant international media of particularly the English language type.

In a way, Qatar seems to have drawn lessons from the Southeast Asian city state of Singapore that for more than five decades emerged as an example of economic power house in the comity of rich states with larger territories, bigger population and greater resources. Its success story has left a deep impression on the international landscape, especially among developing nations.

AJ’s global presence as one of the top three television networks jolted the French government to work on launching an English broadcast channel in competition with the Qatari broadcasting service for a bigger share of the international audience. Its financiers and competitors are aware of a marked upward swing the network is expected to record by the end of this decade to prove that AJ was not built in a day to earn a significant status in the space long monopolised by the traditionally dominant Western channels.
The AJ success story prompted Russia and the British to introduce new channels. BBC went for the prospects of launching an Arabic channel whereas the Russians decided to go global with RT channel in English. Not to lag behind, China started making gradual waves with China Global TV.

When four Arab neighbours (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and UAE), in 2017, cut their ties with Qatar and clamped an embargo accusing it of “funding terror”, one of the conditions for normal ties was a demand for dismantling AJ, which only boosted the broadcasting service’s profile. This happened even if Qatar hosts the largest American military base in West Asia.
Qatar held its ground, and three and a half years later, the boycotting quartet early this year announced the restoration of diplomatic relations and agreeing “to set aside” their differences.
Riyadh learnt the lesson of chewing only what it can swallow and digest, and that small does not necessarily mean weak. Governance in Qatar is better than Saudi Arabia’s. Its monumental miscalculation, made on the overestimated strength of its military and money power, failed to subdue what it might have sized as a “speck” in the ocean at the time of launching the blockade designed to throttle the tiny neighbor. Qatar can never afford to be a committed security threat to Riyadh.

On another plane, intelligent conduct displayed in relatively quiet and deft diplomacy enabled Qatar to obtain the role of a credible peace facilitator in war-torn Afghanistan, which suffered the loss of 240,000 lives in 20 years.
The Taliban fighters maintained their office in the Qatari capital Doha, which was the venue of several rounds of serious talks with US representatives before the foreign troops finally quit Afghanistan after more than two decades of military intervention. This reiterated the emirate’s successful strategic diplomacy, effective economic management and enhanced international profile.

More than money
Qatar is much more than belonging to a moneyed club. Not all nations with the advantage of oil money or staggering industrial base have been able to build an impressive international reputation. Qatar’s approach and attitude are worth emulating for especially states surrounded by powerful neighbours. The manner in which the emirate made its move for the honour of hosting the next year’s World Cup shows its engaging diplomatic skills, understanding of the fierce competition and inherent intrigues.

As a global broadcasting agency, the AJ has powered and towered its way to becoming a news outlet to reckon with—something dozens of other bigger, richer and with far longer history of introducing scientific inventions and organisational innovations have not been able to establish with such scintillating success.
The recent series of ups and downs must have reinforced the determination of the rulers in Doha not to let their guard down. An abiding faith in policies that address a situation before it went out of hand exacts relentless engagement in a carefully charted course that takes into account multiple aspects of issues and ideas pertaining to the emirate’s core interests.

Last but not the least is Qatar’s determination so visibly demonstrated in withstanding the Saudi-led boycott that was designed to make it bend backwards to the big neighbour’s diktats. The painstaking conduct of its diplomacy and the tenacity with which it pursued its long- and short-term goals and objectives has fetched the emirate rich dividends.
Analysts will have to comb their brains to identify another small state facing intimidation from big neighbours and yet managing to hold its fort firm and sound. In today’s three-superpower world, Qatar should serve as a strong reference point for small as well as big states of various stripes.

(Professor Kharel specialises in political communication.)