Qatar

B

British Protection

Muhammad bin Thani’s son Qasim bin Muhammad al-Thani ruled from 1878 to 1913 and is considered the founder of the emirate of Qatar. He steered a careful diplomatic path between Britain and the Ottoman Empire, the two dominant powers in the region, acknowledging the formal sovereignty of the Ottomans over Qatar. In the Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1913 (never ratified because of the arrival of World War I) the Ottoman Empire gave up its claim to Qatar. In 1916 the British consolidated their position in Qatar through an agreement with the emir, Abdullah bin Qasim al-Thani. This agreement conferred British protection upon Qatar, established British control over Qatar’s foreign relations, and provided special rights for Britain and British subjects.

Like the other Persian Gulf states, Qatar lost almost all of its pearling industry in the 1930s with the worldwide economic depression and the introduction of Japanese cultured pearls. In 1939, however, a subsidiary of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later the British Petroleum Company) struck oil in Qatar. Oil was first produced in commercial quantities in 1949, and Qatar began the transition from one of the poorest states in the world to one of the wealthiest. Although the emir at first retained the bulk of the wealth, a Qatari social welfare state soon took shape, and the emir’s rudimentary governmental administration gave way to the more complex structure needed to oversee rapid economic and social development.

In 1968 the British government announced that by the end of 1971 it would withdraw its military forces from the Persian Gulf region as an economizing measure. This meant that British protection of Qatar, Bahrain, and the Trucial States (now the United Arab Emirates) would come to an end. Qatar proposed that those other states join with it in a federation and drew up a constitution for that purpose. Agreement on union could not be reached, however, and Qatar declared its independence in September 1971. The federal constitution was adopted on a provisional basis for the new state’s government, and the al-Thanis were confirmed as the ruling clan of Qatar.

C

Independent Qatar

The emir at independence was Ahmad bin Ali al-Thani, whose hoarding of oil income and extravagant expenditures led to a bloodless coup by his cousin and prime minister, Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani. Emir Khalifa implemented far-sighted social welfare policies to provide all Qataris with a share of the country’s wealth, but he did little to reform the country’s authoritarian form of government. He pursued low-profile foreign policies, generally closely aligning Qatar with Saudi Arabia.

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In 1992 Khalifa rejected a petition by a group of 50 leading Qataris calling for an assembly with legislative powers as well as for reforms in the economy and the education system. However, the same year, Khalifa turned over much of his day-to-day authority to his son and prime minister, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who shared many of these reformist ideas. As prime minister, Hamad initiated policies at odds with his father’s more cautious leadership, including attempts to normalize relations with Iran and Iraq, establish close economic ties with Israel, and lessen the influence of Saudi Arabia on Qatar. In June 1995, when Khalifa was out of the country, Hamad seized power.

D

Hamad’s Rule

After becoming emir, Hamad oversaw several reforms to the Qatari political system. To select new municipal officers in 1999, Qatar held its first popular elections ever. Both men and women were allowed to vote and to run for office. In 2002 a constitutional commission produced a draft constitution that called for the creation of a partially elected legislative body and guaranteed all Qatari citizens the right to vote as well as freedom of expression and religion. The new constitution was approved by public referendum in April 2003 and came into force in June 2005. While Hamad’s reforms are a source of anxiety for the more conservative rulers of several other Persian Gulf states, many observers believe that he is a model for a future generation of rulers in that region.

Hamad also cultivated relations with the United States and encouraged the U.S. military to use Qatari bases. In 2002 the United States began transferring many military facilities from Saudi Arabia to Qatar. Qatar served as a critical command center for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

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