Although Qatar has come to the fore of Middle East regional politics in recent years, few scholars have devoted significant research to the small Gulf country. In Qatar: Small State, Big Politics (Cornell University Press) Mehran Kamrava provides a needed contemporary account of Qatari politics and explains how Qatar “although severely lacking in most measures of state power, it is highly influential in diplomatic, cultural, and economic spheres.” Kamrava presents Qatar as an “experimental country” exerting “subtle power,” arguing that it challenges “how we understand the role of small states in the global system.”
For more on Gulf politics, download POMEPS Studies 25 “Visions of Gulf Security” with contributions from Kamrava, F. Gregory Gause III, Kristin Smith Diwan, Toby Dodge, and others — including Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, author of the forthcoming Qatar and the Arab Spring (Hurst). — C.K.