What are the contradictions and resulting cultural dilemmas which the inhabitants of Qatar have to face? A different breed of foot soldier By William Wallis A strange kind of revolution is taking place in the tiny, energy-rich Gulf emirate of Qatar. Until relatively recently a fiercely conservative peninsular state living in the long shadow of Saudi Arabia, Qatar is asserting itself with global ambitions. Women are flocking to universities. Skyscrapers are sprouting from the desert and foreigners and investors are pouring in in search of business. At a time when the Arab street is seen to be stirring in pursuit of change, the transformations under way in Qatar have been engineered not so much by its population as by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the absolute ruler.

In Doha, the foot soldiers of change are a different breed from those crowding other Arab capitals. They are more likely to be from public relations firms and management consultancies, hired from abroad to help promote and develop the emir’s ‘vision’. Slogans such as ‘modernisation without westernisation’, or ‘modern but Muslim’ emerge from PowerPoint presentations rather than street pamphlets or radical preachers. ‘His highness,’ explains one enthusiastic subject from Qatar’s academic community, ‘is way ahead of his society. He is trying to position us to benefit from the changes in the world. What’s good for the world is also good for Qatar. We are not some kind of freak nation.’

By the standards of the conservative autocracies of the Gulf, Qatar is, however, becoming distinct in more ways than one even if it shares many of the same challenges. The emir says he wants to build a nation rich in human as well as natural resources, strategically positioned for its service industries, as well as its energy wealth. To achieve this, he is not just changing the skyline in Doha. He is also attempting to remould the mindset of its inhabitants. In the first 24 years of independence from Britain, when other oil rich Gulf societies were assembling the trappings of modernity, Qatar remained a comparative backwater.