EVOLVING SOCIETAL THREAT PERCEPTIONS IN QATAR: TOWARDS AN INCLUSIVE BALADNA CONCEPT

Date

2025-1

Author

BATTALOGLU, CIHAT

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This dissertation aims to examine the changing societal security perception in Qatar by testing a hypothesis: while migration-induced demographic imbalances and their associated existential threats created societal security concerns in Qatar akin to those in other Gulf States, the 2017 Gulf crisis marked a turning point. The crisis encouraged Qatar to adopt a more inclusive approach to societal security, expanding its core values beyond the traditional tribal framework toward an inclusive vision encapsulated by the term Baladna—a unifying symbol of national pride and collective identity. The dissertation also contributes to the theory of societal security by integrating Qatar’s evolving framework into the broader literature. Initially, societal concerns in Qatar were addressed within the context of state or political security, consistent with the Copenhagen School’s foundational understanding of security. During the 1990s and 2000s, Qatar’s perspective evolved with an emphasis on identity-related threats, focusing on migration and horizontal competition. However, the 2017 Gulf crisis marked a departure from this trajectory. While Qatar’s pre-2017 threat perceptions mirrored those of its neighbors, the crisis catalyzed the emergence of a distinct societal security perspective. This new framework, referred to in this dissertation as Baladna, shifts focus from identity-oriented concerns to encompass life-giving functions and an all-hazards approach, paralleling the ‘New Nordic Understanding of Security’.

Subject Keywords

Societal Security, Qatar, Migration, Demographic Imbalance

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/113044

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis