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Conceptualising Qatar’s Political Economy as a Developmental State

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Contemporary Qatar

Part of the book series: Gulf Studies ((GS,volume 4))

Abstract

Qatar had emerged as one of the most prosperous countries globally, and it has experienced rapid development in terms of infrastructure, economic growth and the quality of life of its inhabitants. This chapter engages with the political economy of Qatar’s development and argues that it should be understood primarily in political terms. On this basis, it is argued that the nation’s political economy can be best understood through a developmental state approach. Through engaging in the literature on petro-developmentalism, Qatar is currently at an advanced stage, given the overall character of the progress made in its development and diversification. Qatar’s political economy is therefore interpreted as being driven by a developmental state agenda rather than one that is characterised by dynamics seeking to maintain rentier-based power structures.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Various strong studies have reflected on variations on a theme regarding rentierism and how it can be applied. Examples include Gray (2011), Hertog (2010a), and Moritz (2020).

  2. 2.

    Recent insightful examples of how this has been applied in scope include Freer (2020) and Krane (2020).

  3. 3.

    It is noted here that Mehran Kamrava provided an earlier comparable approach towards looking at Qatar’s political economy by incorporating aspects of the developmental state paradigm located between ‘high modernism’ and ‘state capacity’. See Kamrava (2013, Chapter 5).

  4. 4.

    This conception and notion of a “Qatar model” draws from the classic political economy trilogy conducted by Martin Hvidt on Dubai, where he proposed the “Dubai Model of Economic Development”. The intention in this chapter is to offer some initial reflections on this point which build on his intellectual contribution while recognising the specificity of Qatar. See Hvidt (2007, 2009, 2011).

  5. 5.

    Thurbon (2014, pp. 59–75), this citation is taken from Takagi et al. (2019, p. 21).

  6. 6.

    For an account of the breadth of the SOEs, and aspects of Qatari state capitalism, see Gray (2013) and Kamrava (2013, 2017).

  7. 7.

    For a useful discussion on legitimacy approaches, see Mitchell (2013, pp. 29–33). Additional discussions on other GCC states can be viewed via Davidson (2005, p. 104), Hertog (2010b), and Valeri (2009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Ar-Rayyan, Qatar

    Steven Wright

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  1. Steven Wright
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Correspondence to Steven Wright .

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  1. Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    Mahjoob Zweiri

  2. Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    Farah Al Qawasmi

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Wright, S. (2021). Conceptualising Qatar’s Political Economy as a Developmental State. In: Zweiri, M., Al Qawasmi, F. (eds) Contemporary Qatar. Gulf Studies, vol 4. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1391-3_10

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