Download or read book Inside Qatar written by John McManus and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2022-07-07 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A wonderful and sometimes devastating book ... sophisticated, nuanced, fair-minded and yet very hard hitting' SIMON KUPER, author of SOCCERNOMICS 'This will transport you to Qatar and teach you with humanity and empathy some of the dark truths about globalisation' BEN JUDAH, author of THIS IS LONDON 'John McManus is a remarkable, compelling writer' RORY STEWART, author of THE PLACES IN BETWEEN 'Wise, well informed, fair-minded and honest' PETER OBORNE, author of THE ASSAULT ON TRUTH AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF LIFE IN ONE OF THE WORLD'S RICHEST NATIONS AHEAD OF THE FIFA 2022 WORLD CUP Just 75 years ago, the Gulf nation of Qatar was a backwater, reliant on pearl diving. Today it is a gas-laden parvenu with seemingly limitless wealth and ambition. Skyscrapers, museums and futuristic football stadiums rise out of the desert and Ferraris race through the streets. But in the shadows, migrant workers toil in the heat for risible amounts. Inside Qatar reveals how real people live in this surreal place, a land of both great opportunity and great iniquity. Ahead of Qatar's time in the limelight as host of the 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup, anthropologist John McManus lifts a lid on the hidden worlds of its gilded elite, its spin doctors and thrill seekers, its manual labourers and domestic workers. The sum of their tales is not some exotic cabinet of curiosities. Instead, Inside Qatar opens a window onto the global problems - of unfettered capitalism, growing inequality and climate change - that concern us all.
Download or read book Qatar written by Mehran Kamrava and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-15 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Persian Gulf state of Qatar has fewer than 2 million inhabitants, virtually no potable water, and has been an independent nation only since 1971. Yet its enormous oil and gas wealth has permitted the ruling al Thani family to exert a disproportionately large influence on regional and even international politics. Qatar is, as Mehran Kamrava explains in this knowledgeable and incisive account of the emirate, a "tiny giant": 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, building a new society while exerting what he calls "subtle power." It is both the headquarters of the global media network Al Jazeera and the site of the U.S. Central Command's Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center. Qatar has been a major player during the European financial crisis, it has become a showplace for renowned architects, several U.S. universities have established campuses there, and it will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Qatar's effective use of its subtle power, Kamrava argues, challenges how we understand the role of small states in the global system. Given the Gulf state's outsized influence on regional and international affairs, this book is a critical and timely account of contemporary Qatari politics and society.
Download or read book Does Skill Make Us Human written by Natasha Iskander and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regulation : how the politics of skill become law -- Production : how skill makes cities -- Skill : how skill is embodied and what it means for the control of bodies -- Protest : how skillful practice becomes resistance -- Body : how definitions of skill cause injury -- Earth : how the politics of skill shape responses to climate change.
Download or read book Qatar written by David B. Roberts and published by Hurst & Company. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rarely has a state changed its character so completely in so short a period of time. Previously content to play a role befitting its small size, Qatar was a traditional, risk-averse Gulf monarchy until the early 1990s. A bloodless coup in 1995 brought to power an emerging elite with a progressive vision for the future. Financed by gas exports and protected by a US security umbrella, Qatar diversified its foreign relations to include Iran and Israel, established the satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera, assumed a leading role in international mediation, and hosted a number of top-level sporting tournaments, culminating in the successful FIFA World Cup 2022 bid. Qatar's disparate, often misunderstood, policies coalesce to propagate a distinct brand. Whether to counter regional economic competitors or to further tie Qatar to the economies of the world's leading countries, this brand is de- signed innovatively to counter a range of security concerns; in short, Qatar is diversifying its dependencies. Qatar's prominent role in the Arab Spring follows a similar pattern, yet the gamble it is taking in supporting Islamists and ousting dictators is potentially dangerous: not only is it at risk from 'blowback' in dealing with such actors, but a lack of transparency means that clichés and assumptions threaten to derail "brand Qatar."
Download or read book Policy Making in a Transformative State written by M. Evren Tok and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-10 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores, in a series of detailed case studies, how public policy is actually made in Qatar. While Qatar is a Gulf monarchy, its governance is complex. Other analysts have tried to come to grips with this complexity using qualified descriptions of the system such as 'late rentier,' 'pluralized autocracy,' 'tribal democracy,' or 'soft authoritarian.' The authors of the volume use the lens of a transformative state. Qatar is deliberately engaged in a rapid process of radical economic and societal transformation. That process has its contradictions and tensions, particularly with regards to achieving a balance between Islam, social traditions, and modernity. This book explores how it also has a specific policy dynamic of generating ideas and institutions, developing policy and program designs, implementation and coordination.
Download or read book Changing Qatar written by Geoff Harkness and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2020-07-28 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cultural study of modern Qatar and how it navigates change and tradition Qatar, an ambitious country in the Arabian Gulf, grabbed headlines as the first Middle Eastern nation selected to host the FIFA World Cup. As the wealthiest country in the world—and one of the fastest-growing—it is known for its capital, Doha, which boasts a striking, futuristic skyline. In Changing Qatar, Geoff Harkness takes us beyond the headlines, providing a fresh perspective on modern-day life in the increasingly visible Gulf. Drawing on three years of immersive fieldwork and more than a hundred interviews, he describes a country in transition, one struggling to negotiate the fluid boundaries of culture, tradition, and modernity. Harkness shows how Qataris reaffirm—and challenge—traditions in many areas of everyday life, from dating and marriage, to clothing and humor, to gender and sports. A cultural study of citizenship in modern Qatar, this book offers an illuminating portrait that cannot be found elsewhere.
Download or read book Qatar written by Diana Untermeyer and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Qatar occupies a thumb of land that extends off the Arabian Peninsula into the Persian Gulf. This nation, though small in size, represents more than a strategic geographical location-it is uniquely beautiful and culturally rich. Qatar: Sand, Sea and Sky is an overview of the country and its journey into modernity while it preserves the duality of its culture as a desert by the sea. Stunning photography pairs with informative and personal text by the wife of the most recent United States ambassador to Qatar to give Westerners traveling to Qatar on business or for World Cup preparations an inside understanding of this moderate Muslim country and the way it attempts to become modern and engaged with the world without losing its heritage. It includes an introduction by Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, current chair of the Qatari Foundation Reach Out to Asia and daughter of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the current Emir of Qatar.
Download or read book Qatar written by Tamra Orr and published by Marshall Cavendish. This book was released on 2008 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides comprehensive information on the geography, history, governmental structure, economy, cultural diversity, peoples, religion, and culture of Qatar. All books of the critically-acclaimed Cultures of the World(R) series ensure an immersive experience by offering vibrant photographs with descriptive nonfiction narratives, and interactive activities such as creating an authentic traditional dish from an easy-to-follow recipe. Copious maps and detailed timelines present the past and present of the country, while exploration of the art and architecture help your readers to understand why diversity is the spice of Life.
Download or read book Qatar written by Allen J. Fromherz and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What role does Qatar play in the Middle East, and how does it differ from the other Gulf states? How has the ruling Al-Thani family shaped Qatar from a traditional tribal society and British protectorate to a modern state? How has Qatar become an economic superpower with one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world? What are the social, political, and economic consequences of Qatar’s extremely rapid development? In this groundbreaking history of modern Qatar, Allen J. Fromherz analyzes the country’s crucial role in the Middle East and its growing regional influence within a broader historical context. Drawing on original sources in Arabic, English, and French as well as his own fieldwork in the Middle East, the author deftly traces the influence of the Ottoman and British Empires and Qatar’s Gulf neighbors prior to Qatar’s meteoric rise in the post-independence era. Fromherz gives particular weight to the nation’s economic and social history, from its modest origins in the pearling and fishing industries to the considerable economic clout it exerts today, a clout that comes from having the region’s second-highest natural gas reserves. He also looks at what the future holds for Qatar’s economy as the country tries to diversify beyond oil and gas. The book further examines the paradox of Qatar where monarchy, traditional tribal culture, and conservative Islamic values appear to coexist with ultramodern development and a large population of foreign workers who outnumber Qatari citizens. This book is as unique as the country it documents—a multifaceted picture of the political, cultural, religious, social, and economic makeup of modern Qatar and its significance within the Gulf Cooperation Council and the wider region.
Download or read book The Creation of Qatar written by Rosemarie Said Zahlan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-05 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, first published in 1979, was the first political and social history of Qatar. Its main thrust is to provide the reader with a description and identification of the processes and forces that have contributed to change and continuity in Qatari society. A concise and relevant history of the country from the latter part of the eighteenth century when the Utub settled Zubarah to the present day is provided. Emphasis is placed not only on Qatar’s internal development, but also on its critical relationship with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, its closest neighbours, and with Britain. The study then proceeds to determine the inner logic of the Qatari political and social structure, and how it has evolved over the years. It is shown how the same society that exhibited great fortitude in the face of economic and political hardship could have an equally great capacity to adapt to new levels of prosperity.
Download or read book Qatar written by Allen James Fromherz and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking history of modern Qatar, Allen J. Fromherz analyzes Qatar's crucial role in the Middle East and its growing regional influence within a broader historical context.
Download or read book Media in Qatar written by Dr. Khalid Al-Jaber and published by Gulf International Forum. This book was released on with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Qatar and the Arab Spring written by Kristian Ulrichsen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Qatar and the Arab Spring offers a frank examination of Qatar's startling rise to regional and international prominence, describing how its distinctive policy stance toward the Arab Spring emerged. In only a decade, Qatari policy-makers - led by the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, and his prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani - catapulted Qatar from a sleepy backwater to a regional power with truly international reach. In addition to pursuing an aggressive state-branding strategy with its successful bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar forged a reputation for diplomatic mediation that combined intensely personalized engagement with financial backing and favorable media coverage through the Al-Jazeera. These factors converged in early 2011 with the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolts in North Africa, Syria, and Yemen, which Qatari leaders saw as an opportunity to seal their regional and international influence, rather than as a challenge to their authority, and this guided their support of the rebellions against the Gaddafi and Assad regimes in Libya and Syria. From the high watermark of Qatari influence after the toppling of Gaddafi in 2011, that rapidly gave way to policy overreach in Syria in 2012, Coates Ulrichsen analyses Qatari ambition and capabilities as the tiny emirate sought to shape the transitions in the Arab world.
Download or read book The Glass Palace written by Nasser M. Beydoun and published by Algora Publishing. This book was released on 2012 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Americans read in today's news that Qatar is funding rebel groups across the Middle East, few of us have any idea what Qatar is or how it is run. A nation of perhaps 250,000 locals served by 1.35 million foreign workers, the emirate is burning its gas and oil revenue at a break-neck pace in an effort to build a position on the global stage. Is Qatar actually a suitable ally or a legitimate partner for the United States? Under Qatari labor law, foreign workers are actually owned, for all practical purposes, by their Qatari sponsors in a system akin to slavery. This book chronicles the experience of an American executive working in Qatar and delves into Qatar's feudal work-sponsorship system, showing that an economic great leap forward is not necessarily accompanied by modernization, despite superficial emblems; that prosperity and democracy need not go hand in hand; and that being a US ally may be totally unrelated to any notion of human rights or personal liberties. There are other Western expats still trapped in Qatar. Yet American workers, students and others blithely interact with Qatar as if it were a 'normal' (i.e., Westernized) nation where one may navigate with confidence. It is nothing of the sort. In the meantime Qatar, under the leadership of an emir who overthrew his own father, is fostering international unrest across the entire Arab world, while racing to build a modern-looking city from scratch. Some of the economic, environmental and demographic assumptions underlying these plans are worthy of another 1000 tales from Arabia. American businessman Nasser Beydoun found out for himself how quickly the Qataris are moving when he embarked on an exciting new career path, leaving his hometown of Dearborn, Michigan, to move to Qatar to manage the opening of several chain restaurants as part of the sudden economic boom there. It didn't take long for the deal to turn sour, but Beydoun didn't realize the extent of his problem until he tried to leave the country — and was stopped at the border. In this book he paints a general picture of life in this fantastical realm while relaying his personal struggle to escape a legal runaround worthy of Kafka's novels.
Download or read book Qatar Papers written by Christian Chesnot and published by Averroes & Cie. This book was released on 2020-01-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The “Qatar papers” reveal the mapping of proselytism in France and Europe led by Qatar Charity, the most powerful Qatari NGO. These confidential documents, disclosed for the first time, detail most of the 140 projects to finance mosques, schools and Islamic centres, for the benefit of associations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. They reveal the salary paid to Tariq Ramadan, a figure of political Islam that Doha sponsors outside its borders. At the end of a survey in six European countries and a dozen cities in France, the authors expose the concealment, sometimes the double language, of Muslim associations on their foreign funding, as well as the ostrich policy followed by many mayors, out of electoralism or ignorance. They point out the absurdity of the situation: with the faithful's money alone as a subsidy, how could mosques in France deprive themselves of aid from abroad? A journey behind-the-scenes of a wealthy and opaque NGO linked to the top of the Qatari state, as revealed by its funding by several members of the ruling family, the Al Thani.
Download or read book Hidden in the Sands written by Frances Gillespie and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book of its kind to be published for a general readership from youngsters upwards, Hidden in the Sands: Uncovering Qatar's Past is the fascinating, fun and educational story of Qatar's heritage and the exciting discoveries being made by archaeologists. This informative and delightful book is designed to assist in the teaching of the new Qatari History Curriculum directive. It is published through the generosity of Maersk Oil as part of its program to support education and unlock Qatar's history and heritage. Hidden beneath the sand and sea and revealed on rocks are the clues which explain why this ancient land has been such a key region throughout history. Here you can follow the detective work of archaeologists and discover Qatar's rich past. In conjunction with a fully interactive website and also available in an Arabic edition, Hidden in the Sands describes in words and pictures the treasures uncovered by archaeologists, the methods they use, and the significance of their discoveries. Today, using state-of-the-art technology for excavation, dating and conservation, teams of experts are working all over Qatar to reconstruct its past. Fully illustrated with photographs, maps and diagrams, Hidden in the Sands is embellished by the vivid and evocative illustrations of the artist Norman MacDonald. Told simply but with in-depth and up-to-date detail, it leads readers through the fascinating world of archaeology. Like reconstructing an earthenware jar from a hundred little shards, this book pieces together the fragments of the past to produce a complete and beautiful whole. The 15 chapters include: Archaeology in Qatar; How Archaeologists Work; The First People; Early Coastal Settlements; Stone Tools; Making Tools from Stone; Colour from the Sea; The Mounds of the Dead; Rock Carvings; The Golden Age; Nomads of the Desert; Seeking the Angels' Teardrops; Al Zubara; A Lost Settlement and an Ancient Fort; and Conservation of Archaeological Finds. It also contains a comprehensive Glossary, and a map showing all the main archaeological sites, as well as maps illustrating how the shape of Qatar has changed over the last 15,000 years.
Download or read book Mental Health in Qatar written by Amber Haque and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-05-14 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first volume to explore, in breadth and in depth, the field of mental health in Qatar. The development of mental health services and the support of mental health research are currently priority areas in the strategic vision of this country. Bringing together the voices of experts in the field working in service of this vision, this volume covers everything from the history of mental health systems, administrative and academic growth and challenges, and the treatment of all ages and special populations, to mental health challenges at schools and in the workplace. Within each section, contributors drawn from across the range of mental health disciplines in Qatar discuss the developments and the challenges faced in this rapidly developing country. The book will appeal to practitioners, researchers, administrators, academics, students, and the general reader both within Qatar and beyond.
