Changing Foreign Policy of Smaller Gulf States - A Case Study of Qatar

The second section describes the evolution of foreign policy and the third section discusses the changing dynamics of the foreign policy of Qatar. [...] It was only after the end of the World War II that the focus shifted to the ranking of countries in the international hierarchy based on the elements of their hard power, and the small states began to be described as satellite states. [...] Giorgi Gavalia argued that ideas affect the process of foreign policy making of small states9 while Mirriam Fendius concluded that the foreign policy of small states has its sources in domestic policies.10 Scholars have been insisting on the significance of power instead of space with regard to the categorisation of small states; Peter Baehr has pointed out that the intended size of the state is t. [...] During the second half of the eighteenth century, the Al-Khalifah (emigrants from the Utub tribe of Najd) settled in the western coast of Qatar and went on to conquer Bahrain. [...] In 2001, the ICJ decided that Bahrain had claims over Hawar Islands, while Qatar had the authority over Zubara and the Janan Islands.18 Despite the resolution of the dispute by the ICJ, Qatar-Bahrain border dispute is still a sensitive issue; the latter claimed its authority over the former’s territory through a press release in 2017 when the Gulf Sapru House Section I : Determinants of the Qatar’.