Qatar as a Middle Power Mediator: An Exploration of its Motivations to Mediate
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58932/MULA0056Keywords:
Qatar, Middle East, Mediation, Middle Power concept, strategic interests, altruistic motivationsAbstract
Qatar ticks all the features of a middle power with mediation as a cornerstone of its foreign policy. Over the past few years, it has gained prominence as a mediator, facilitating diplomatic negotiations between several controversial state and non-state actors and leveraging its status as a middle power. This article highlights Qatar’s motivations for embodying the role of a mediator and its role in conflict resolution, substantiated by the conceptual framework of the middle power concept and mediation. The paper has focused on the underlying inspirations for the role mediation, that is, a voluntary process. The study also explores the critical drivers of Qatar’s interest in mediation, which are security and stability in the region. Doha has a limited strategic depth, with the geopolitical struggle for regional dominance between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This article adopts a qualitative approach, integrating extensive and reliable secondary data to analyse the role of Qatar as a middle power mediator in the Middle East. The findings of the study suggest that Qatar’s engagement as a mediator is driven by strategic reasons to pursue international prestige and altruistic objectives. Through this article, we aim to explore the motivations behind Qatari mediation, while shedding light on its evolving position in the volatile geopolitical landscape of the Middle East.
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