Qatar: Small State, Big Politics.

• Author: Koc, Mehmet Akif

Qatar: Small State, Big Politics

By Mehran Kamrava

Ithaca, London: Cornell University Press, 2013, 222 pages, $35.00, ISBN: 9780801456770

Gaining independence from Britain in 1971 and enjoying enormous oil and natural gas resources, Qatar has exerted extraordinarily large influence both in terms of regional and international politics and the economy in recent years. Mehran Kamrava, professor and director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar, has authored several books on the international relations of the Middle Eastern states. In Qatar: Small State, Big Politics, Kamrava presents the dynamics that explain the background of Qatar's disproportionate international power.

In the Introduction, Kamrava expresses the central question to which the book is devoted: "How can a small state, with little previous history of diplomatic engagement regionally or globally, have emerged as such an influential and significant player in shaping unfolding events across the Middle East and elsewhere?" (p. 1). Kamrava refers to Doha's diplomatic efforts and political initiatives in Lebanon (2008), Sudan (2011), and Libya and Syria since 2011, then asks the critical question, "Will it last?" His book responds to the question affirmatively and concludes that, despite all limitations (diplomatic, political, infrastructural, and demographic), Qatar's powers are more than temporary.

Kamrava explains his approach in four points while discussing his motives in choosing Qatar for this analysis: i) the nature of its state capacity and 'rentier state' characteristic, ii) its hyperactive diplomacy attempts despite being a small state, iii) its status as a 'subtle power' (a new conceptualization combining interrelated elements such as foreign security umbrella, enormous wealth, global branding campaign, active diplomacy, etc.), and iv) its vision to construct an entirely new state structure and society. While exploring these significant features, the author highlights Qatars' context of domestic politics, the importance of its leadership skills and choices, and the role of institutions along with regional and international conditions. In this manner, one can claim that the book is constructed on a neoclassical realist framework, elaborating foreign policy and the international context with a special emphasis on the role and influence of domestic dynamics.

The first chapter, "Setting the Stage,"...