Qatar: A Pursuit of Autonomy. A Revision of the Theory of Subtle Power.
Creators: name: Merrington, Matthew
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2024

description: This thesis makes a unique contribution to the study of the relationship between power and autonomy in the field of international relations, focusing specifically on Qatar's utilisation of subtle power and its pursuit of autonomy from Saudi Arabia. In 1971 Qatar's independence was thrust upon it by the British, and it began its tenuous existence as a sovereign state firmly within the Saudi political sphere. Over the course of the next fifty years this began to change as Qatar emerged from obscurity to become an important regional actor, and as this study will show, gradually achieved its outright political autonomy from Saudi Arabia. This transition is the basis of this study, and evaluates how the four elements of the theory of subtle power, (diplomacy and conflict mediation, national branding, strategic use of its sovereign wealth fund, and physical protection from the United States), impacted on Qatar's political emancipation from Saudi Arabia. This unique study will contribute to existing literature on 'how power changes over time', and how nation states use power not to influence, but to gain greater autonomy from another nation state. This thesis is supported by a wealth of investigation which involved two years of research including over forty interviews with serving and former diplomats, Qatari and Saudi nationals, civil servants, journalists who reported from the region, and academics working in local universities. Other data gathering activities included archival research, statistical collection, and media and press release discourse analysis and observations. By evaluating the theory of subtle power and how it was utilised to benefit Qatar's political emancipation from Saudi Arabia, this thesis has found that whilst each of the four elements of subtle power aided Qatar's pursuit of autonomy, their efficacy was impacted largely as a result of Qatar's interventionist foreign policy actions, growing regional prominence, and at times, disregard of the interests of the Saudi ruling elite. Around the time of the Arab Spring commencing in 2010, subtle power could no longer be described as subtle. Although the four elements of subtle power remained relevant, their utilisation became more overt and competitive in a region undergoing significant geopolitical change, and the four elements were increasingly having to readapt to a more assertive Saudi foreign policy posture and growing sense of nationalism. Due to these changes this study found that a contemporary revision of the theory of subtle power was necessitated. Whilst the nomenclature of each of the four elements of subtle power remains the same, this thesis has termed the contemporary revision of this theory as late subtle power. The theorist behind subtle power, Mehran Kamrava, originally posited that Qatar's use of each of the four elements was to 'exercise influence behind the scenes'. This study has found that the contemporary revision of Kamrava's original theory has supplanted its predecessor in a post-Arab Spring geopolitical environment. As the prominence of Qatar in the region has risen, it now utilises the four elements of subtle power in an overt and confident manner, which is also in response to an increasingly competitive sub-Persian Gulf region. Notwithstanding Qatar's newfound confidence in regional politics and the evolution of the theory of subtle power, an increasingly emboldened Qatari foreign policy has led to Saudi repercussions such as the 2017 diplomatic and economic blockade, where not only was Qatar's autonomy threatened, but for a brief period its sovereignty too. As such, by improving our understanding of how, why, and when subtle power has evolved over time in the case of Qatar, this thesis contributes to the broader knowledge of how power changes over time, and how power can be utilised to achieve greater political autonomy.