POLITICAL SCIENCE Final Research Proposal

Abstract

In the Persian Gulf, the Arab states are in the midst of the regional crises related to the diplomatic break of Qatar. Qatar is being cut off by four countries: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt. This is mainly because Qatar is supposedly supporting terrorist groups and are too friendly with Iran, which is an enemy of the Gulf countries. The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship of Qatar with these four countries. I want to find out if this information regarding Qatar is correct or not. If it is so than Qatar must choose between the Gulf countries and the terrorist ties it holds.

Chapter I: Introduction

In the recent months, there has been a crisis going on within the Persian Gulf. Four neighboring countries are cutting off Qatar that includes Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt. The problem has been increased to the extent that they decided to transfer the Qatari officials from their countries back to Qatar.

The reason these four countries are calling a “Diplomatic break” with Qatar is that Qatar is supposedly supporting terrorist groups as well as being too friendly with Iran, which is an enemy of the Gulf. This means that Qatar has to be very careful with their next actions and decide which is more important to them; supporting these people, or publicly standing up against those groups and showing their allegiance to the four countries who were formerly their allies. This crisis also impacts the other Gulf countries like Kuwait, Yemen, and Oman. But Kuwait and Oman do not cut their ties Qatar. Rather they offered to be mediated in this dispute.

To address this problem successfully, Qatar will need to understand that the four countries are border countries, which makes it Qatar’s best interest to settle the problem before it gets too big to repair. If they decide they would rather support groups in which these countries oppose there could be more serious conflicts to come. Qatar will need to do more than just deny the claims, but it seems they will need to take further actions in order to prove their true allegiance. In this study, the dependent variable is the fact that these countries have cut off Qatar, while the independent variable is Qatar’s upcoming actions and whether or not they will make strides to prove they do not support these extremists and terrorists.

After the upheaval of Arab spring, Qatar aligned with the Islamist party of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar also state-funded with the news network of Al Jazeera that seemed to take up the cause of these Islamist groups Qatar was amongst the utmost active supporters of Islamist fighters in rebellions in Libya and Syria. The citizens of Qatar were also suspected of supporting Yemen’s Houthi rebels before it was a part of the Saudi-led coalition who are now loosely backed by Iran. The UAE has bridled at Qatar’s continued role in the Islamists in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere. This resulted in the isolation of Qatar from the Gulf countries.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain break their relations with Qatar on 5 June. They alleged Qatar for supporting the terrorism and gave Qatari citizens 14 days to leave the territories of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bahrain banned their own citizens from traveling to or residing in Qatar. Qatar has a single land border with Saudi Arabia that was also closed by Saudi Arabia after the crises. Saudi Arabia has banned the ships that are flying the Qatari flag and serving Qatar from docking at many ports.

Qatar’s dependency on land and sea border for importing and exporting the basic needs of their 2.7 million population. Due to the breakage of the relation between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The supermarkets in Doha were emptied. The residents rushed to stock up after that the Turkey and Iran started sending food to Qatar by air and sea.

The international airport in Doha, Qatar has been a quitter because they cancel flights to 18 regional cities because of the airspace restrictions. Due to this, they have to reroute the destination. The companies that are preparing for the International event of Football world cup 2022 has started working on the new stadiums and infrastructure project. They had to access new sources for building material due to the air banned by the Gulf countries. This increased the shipping costs by tenfold. Now Qatar has begun the new shipping cargo after the restriction imposed by the neighboring countries by using a new route through Oman. Qatar has to import the daily use products from the other countries beyond the restrictions that are imposed by the Gulf countries.

 

Statement of the problem

The problem of the Gulf countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt with Qatar creates regional crises. These crises occur due to Qatar’s support to terrorist groups. Qatar makes friendly relations with Iran, an enemy of the Gulf countries. This resulted in the isolation of Qatar from the neighboring Gulf countries.

Purpose of the study

The main purpose of this study is to be analyzed the issue. This can be done by analyzing the relationship between the Gulf countries and Qatar. This study also discussed the political interference in the crises.

Research question

The main question of this study is analyzing whether the created issue has some sense or it’s just a “straw that broke the camel’s back.” This study also researches about the impacts of this crisis on the world.

A.   Hypotheses

This crisis occurs due to the involvement of Iran in the Gulf countries. Because the key issue of this crises is Qatar’s relations with Iran. The other key issue is related to Qatar’s support for Islamist groups like Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar has long practiced and an ambitious foreign policy with its neighbors that have different priorities due to which Qatar denies the aiding of militant groups that are linked to al-Qaeda or Islamic State (IS). This study also includes Qatar’s response to Qatar call for dialogue after the violation of international laws and regulations. Qatar denies the allegations by saying that the neighbors want that the surrender their sovereignty. Qatar president says that they do not insult any of the international treaty or jurisdiction.

Significance or importance of the study

Due to this isolation Qatar, these Gulf countries cut the aerospace for the Qataris. This issue highlighted the geopolitics due to their oil factor. This emerged as an allegation of supporting and funding the terrorism with the support of Iran and Islamist party, Muslim Brotherhood by the Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The significance of the study on this issue is because due to the center for oil production, it leaves its impacts on the world. The importance of this study is increased due to its research about the impacts of this crisis on the USA. Because the USA is dependent on these countries for their launchpad for the sea and air that they are used to fight against the Islamic state.

This research will have focused on determining the facts that try to recognize the faults and flaws in the statements made over Qatar. The research also designs analyzing the entire situation and case of Qatar being suspected of funding of terrorist activities. This research helps in collecting all the essential information that is related to the event and try to analyze the situation over the evidence that finds whether Qatar is guilty according to the raised statements or innocent to the all the allegation put by the Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

This study explains Israel’s action of encouraging Saudi Arabia in its dangerous game. Because Israel wants to provoke a war against Iran and by using this crisis Israel encourage Saudi Arabia for their own benefits. The latest crisis on the trigger that is involving Qatar, an allegation of a speech made by the country’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. In this speech, he questioned about the wisdom of Iran with confrontation. This speech triggers the crises because in this Qataris statement was hacked, the Emir is said to have acclaimed the role of conflict movements for example Hamas and Hizbollah.

Uniqueness of the study

This study is different from the other studies because it involves the views from both sides and their opinion and saying that are based on the research. This study also includes the impacts of the crisis on the USA. This study explained that Qatar has helped the Islamist group designated as terrorist organizations by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Hamas movement and Qatar is a member of the US-led alliance contrary to IS, it has confronted allegations from Iraqi Shia leaders that it delivered financial backing to jihadists.

This study will focus on analyzing the issue arisen of Qatar as a host of FIFA 2022. The other UAE countries surrounding Qatar are also against Qatar giving a negative vote for FIFA hosting. According to the sources, Qatar is alleged to have terrorist relationships, and some say that Qatar has been funding the terrorists and the terrorist activities. The matter is becoming highly controversial at the international level as FIFA is threatened and doubtful about hosting the 2022 world cup in Qatar.

Qatar’s support for Hamas is well documented in this study. But this study does not give any information regarding the role of Hizbollah and Qatar in the war in Syria. Hizbollah a part of Lebanon government. It is also a Shia political party. Qatar, that was accused of paying ransom money to the Shia terror groups in Iraq. This statement is confirmed by the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who said that Qatar paid $500 million to secure the release of Qatari hostages. These Qataris hostages were lying in the Central Bank of Iraq. Saudi Arabia with their Gulf allies had insisted that Qatar directly paid money to a Shia militia.

Definition of term

Muslim Brotherhood is a movement and transnational Sunni Islamist that is founded in Egypt. This is not a political party, but the member of this movement creates the political party that is used to describe the political activism of the Muslims.

The Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea that is an extension of Indian Ocean. It is in Western Asia. This is also called Arabian gulf that lies between the Arabian Peninsula and southwestern Iran. It connected to the Indian Ocean by the strain of Hormuz. The states around the Persian Gulf are known as the Gulf countries. There are seven gulf countries. These are Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, and Iran.

Arab Spring, also known as Arab Revolution. It is a series of anti-government protest and armed rebellion that spread in the middle east in 2011. The core expression of Arab spring is deep-seated resentment at the aging of Arab dictatorships and anger at the brutality of the various aspects like security apparatus, unemployment, rising prices, and corruption that followed the privatization of state assets in some countries.

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)is a regional intergovernmental organization for the Gulf countries. It contains the economic and political unions related to the Gulf countries. It is established in Abu Dhabi in 1981 to achieve a closer union between the energy-rich Gulf countries. According to the Western analysts, the foundation of GCC is concerned to the security of the Gulf monarchies. The GCC has focused on issues related to social and cultural cohesion, environmental and scientific coordination and economic cooperation of the Gulf countries.

Delimitation of the study

The main delimitation of the study is that it does not describe the economic impacts of this crises. This study describes only the social and political impacts of the study. Moreover, this study only describes the allegation by the UAE and Egypt but not the reactions of other Gulf countries that are included in this crises like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. It also does not include the remaining gulf country like Oman, Yemen, and Kuwait. This study explains the banned of Qataris to the other Gulf countries and citizens from these countries to Qatar. But this doesn’t include any information about the citizens who were already settled in the other countries. This not include any information regarding the situation of Qataris, lack of food, unemployment and other problems faced by the Qataris. Qatar’s support for Hamas is well documented in this study, but it does not explain about relations of the Hizbollah and Qatar.

Limitation of the study

This study does not include the citizens of these countries and their condition. After the Qatar isolation, the condition of Qataris, their low living standards does not explain in this study. There is no information regarding the opposite sides of Qatar and Hizbollah in the war in Syria. Qatar and Saudi Arabia both obey to the conservative Salafi variety of Sunni Islam that deliberates Shias as apostates.

Chapter II: Literature Review

Henderson (2017) discussed the domestic politics that is happening in the Middle East. The author mentions different policies that are going on, and how they are impacting the regional balance of power. The data attempts to decide whether the current crisis that is going on in the Middle East is a temporary imbalance or if it is the start of a long-term ordeal. It does a great job at providing background information about the Middle East and current policies, as well as, explains different countries ideologies about certain aspects of politics. This source will be a great help for my research because it provides in-depth information about some of the countries involved in the Qatar Blockade, and provide insight on how their relations may have changed. Also, this source is very centered on Qatar, and their domestic policy, which has been the topic of my research.

Naheem (2017) explained the information behind many different countries in the Gulf Coast who cut ties with Qatar financially. In addition to this, they explored different claims by countries regarding Qatar’s involvement in supporting extremists and terrorist organizations. It also discusses the goals of the countries in the Middle East to reduce the financing of terrorist organizations. Most importantly, the author analyses the Qatar financial situation, which will provide much-needed information for my research project. Of course, blocking off a country completely will impact their financial situation, and this speaks to how this incident has affected Qatar.

UN News (2017) in this article, the Amir, talked about how Qatar needs to halt the initiation of extremism and terrorism and that sometimes governments have no choice but to cooperate in the security confrontations with terrorism. He also mentions that the government will be addressing the root causes of terrorism. The article mentions the blockade that was imposed on Qatar and that while taking a stance towards publicly stating they are not supporting terrorism, the Amir also wanted people not to tie any religions into terrorism and remember that they are individual actions, not religious actions. This will help my research by providing me with information about what Qatar is doing to address their position on this issue. The article has words directly from the Amir of Qatar, which shows legitimacy, and that what he is saying is on behalf of Qatar. Part of the research of my study is what Qatar will respond with and this provides insight to that question.

Sharma (2017) discussed the recent events which are happening in the gulf. This study provided huge information about the financing terrorist in Qatar. Due to this, its current market economy is affecting a lot. On the other hand, the author also demonstrated that what it means to India if these types of obligations would arise in Qatar. The author describes the relations of Qatar with India and how it is directly affected by its negative obligations. India is mostly dealing with Qatar, and it basically imports 90% of its natural gas. So, due to this, the money laundering and financing terrorist also affects the other countries. For diminishing these types of crisis, the author suggested the international frameworks that could help to combat the problems relating to money laundering.

Naheem (2017) discussed the current conflicts within the Gulf Cooperation Council and its various socio-economic effects on the union. The GCC has persisted a resilient union of the six Gulf nations of Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE from 1981. Its current separation is based on accusations of terrorist funding against Qatar and by other participant countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. The strength of this study is that it helps to find the actual problem relating to financing terrorist and money laundering in Qatar. This study also authenticates these accusations which are related to Qatar’s internal anti-money laundering and to minimize the terrorist financing contrivances. It also deliberated the financial and societal value of a united GCC as opposite to internal partitions. For this purpose, the author used the five-principle investigation to current factual data surrounding the existing division amongst the GCC.

Mohammed (2017) analyzed the progress of Qatar’s financial system which has been made concerning its anti-money laundering and counters terrorist financing regulations. The author further researched on the legitimate goals of the bodies mentioned above and their dissertation on creating national and international responsibilities to reduce the terrorist financing with the robust AML frameworks. For this purpose, the author described an ex-ante approach to deeply understand Qatar’s strategic insufficiencies before the FATF’s mutual valuation. By analyzing the significant compliance in Qatar, the author demonstrated various international bodies which mainly includes FATF and other financial sector reviews based on AML progress. The author mentioned the international standard for AML/CTF laws which provides compliance with international initiatives and helps to remove money laundering.

Mawali (2015) examined the extents from which Saudi Arabia’s financial growth acts as a locomotive for the Gulf Co-operation Council region. The estimated results demonstrated the fixed effects panel estimation related to the Saudi’s Arabia economic growth. This study also found the real economic growth in Bahrain and UAE that it has a positive spillover to the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The findings of the study encouraged the GCC region to quicken the procedure of GCC economic integration into Saudi Arabia. This process was basically started in 1983, and it recently became delayed at the phase of operation of the monetary union. In the end, the future investigation should look at the mechanisms and networks through which the monetary growth gets conveyed from one country to the GCC.

Truby (2016) measured Qatar’s agreement with its international standards. Qatar mainly faces pressure and allegations that it is not doing enough to counter the terror financing and money laundering. The author argued that it does not mean Qatar is avoiding positive actions, but according to the time measures they become outdated because the international community has constricted its regulatory requirements. So, for this purpose, Qatar has to revise its set of rules according to the latest international standards. The author examined Qatar’s efforts to comply with international frameworks against anti-money laundering and terror finance. The study analyzed the real legislative progress methods which help to minimize money laundering and terrorist financing. The results of this research concluded that Qatar has to update their international standards with the new evolution of international expectations in an approaching review.

Chapter III: Theoretical Framework

The research framework that I am using in this research is a Marxism. My focus started on the Qatar blockade that I wanted to explore the claims that the other Gulf countries were making regarding Qatar’s terrorist funding. In order to successfully isolate the issues, I will approach my research using a Marxist international relations framework. Looking at what economic factors and pressures are leading to this change in behavior in the Middle East. On preliminary research, I have found a reason to believe that the other countries have been so against Qatar as of late is their selection as host for the 2022 World Cup.

A Marxist lens will help facilitate my ability to identify the driving factors in this dilemma; clearly, there are elements that I have found that are quite in line with Marxist ideology. For example, this Qatar blockade was spurred by the financial hit that these other countries in the gold region, which happen to be larger than Qatar, wanted to benefit their people. This is sensible; they are trying to maximize the amount of good and jobs that are being created by hosting the World Cup. As a result, when Qatar was selected, and through allegedly unethical means with FIFA. Now, the Gulf region countries decided to say that Qatar’s ties to terrorist funding. This happened shortly after a trip made by the United States president. My theory is that the region decided to use this terrorist funding strategy to blockade this oil-rich nation. They hoped to scare FIFA into reconsidering their selection of Qatar as their host of the World Cup. I hope to show that the other countries in the area were trying to isolate Qatar because of their deal with FIFA.

This research framework analyzes all the facts and statements which are supporting Qatar as well as are against Qatar in context to hosting the big event of FIFA world cup. The research framework will go through the previous records of the country in making relationships and developing them.

For this, framework researched the relations of Qatar with some other countries around the globe from Asia, Europe, Russia, and America, etc.

This research focused on the relations between Qatar and other countries like USA and India. The Indian origin population that is working in the Middle East is approximately seven million. Therefore, the security and stability in the region have more important for India. The Indian diaspora remits around USD 40 billion a year in this region.

Chapter V: Methodology

Research design

In this research, we will concentrate on determining the facts, which support the statement, and we would also try to recognize the faults and flaws in the statements made over Qatar. The research design would start with analyzing the entire situation and case of Qatar being suspected of funding of terrorist activities. After collecting all the information related to the event, we will try to analyze the situation over the evidence to find that whether Qatar is guilty of the statements raised or innocent to the allegation.

Measurement of variables

This research would also focus on the trade relations of Qatar with different countries around the world. This would help us to identify the behavior of these Gulf countries with other countries that are linked to them through any medium. The background of the financial, social and trade matters of Gulf countries can be very helpful in determining the truth of the situation that has been developed for Qatar. The decision of Qatar to make a friendship relation with Iran and creating crises with other Gulf countries also included in this research. Qatar’s isolation creates a difficult situation in the country. People have no sufficient food to eat.

Sampling

This research study includes the information from the various resources like web pages, news analysis, and journals. The research of Gulf corporation council is also included in this paper. The previous relations between Qatar and Gulf countries and their economic and social relationships with the other world were also included in this study. This study represents various evidence that is in favor of Qatar as it has been recognized the neighbor courtiers of Qatar have conspired to stop the FIFA world cup hosting in Qatar in 2022 because the event hosting brings a lot of benefits to the country which are financial as well as social.

Research methods

By all the statements and counting on the points which would be in favor of Qatar and those which would be in favor of the other UAE countries, we will find out the conclusion to the situation that if the statement of relating Qatar to terrorist activities and funding is valid or not. We will be focused on collecting and analyzing all the relevant information, which could help to define the entire situation in words of “guilty” or “not guilty.” The research will go through previous records of the country in making relationships and developing them. For this, we will be studying the relations of Qatar with some other countries around the globe from Asia, Europe, Russia, and America, etc.

Plan of analysis

The study on the crises is qualitative because it is based on the study of various journals and news analysis. This also includes the material that is provided on the Gulf Corporation council. This council defines the relationship of Gulf countries with other nations and the economic dependency of these countries on the production of oil and transportation. This study is also quantity because it has information from the various resources. The old records of the Gulf countries also mentioned in this study. The research from the various old and new sources make it a quantitative as well as qualitative research.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the conflict between Qatar and the Persian Gulf should be considered serious. It is very necessary to analyze whether Qatar has been helping terrorist activities or not. The proposed method would help to analyze the issue thoroughly and come to a conclusion. It will also help to decide whether next FIFA world come should be hosted by Qatar or not. The morality of the country is also questioned among its citizens as well as around the world, and this can be the reason why Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are standing against Qatar. Qatar will need to understand that the four countries border countries, which makes it Qatar’s best interest to settle the problem before it gets too big to repair. If they decide they would rather support groups in which these countries oppose there could be more serious conflicts to come.

References

1. Naheem, Mohammed A. (2017). “Legitimacy of the 2017 GCC Crisis and Qatar’s AML Framework.” Journal of Money Laundering Control 24 (2): 118-35
2. Al-Mawali, N. (2015). Intra-Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia Effect. Journal of Economic Integration, 30(3), 532-552. doi:10.11130/jei.2015.30.3.532
3. Truby, J. (2016). Measuring Qatar’s compliance with international standards on money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism. Journal of Money Laundering Control, 19(3), 264-277. doi:10.1108/jmlc-04-2015-0011
4. Naheem,A. (2017). The dramatic rift and crisis between Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of June 2017. International Journal of Disclosure and Governance. doi:10.1057/s41310-017-0025-8
5. Sharma, Richa. (2017). “The Vicious Gulf Crisis: What Does it Mean for India?” Center for Air Power Studies. (57): 17.
6. Henderson, Christian. (2017). “Qatari Domestic and Regional Policy.” In Reassessing Order and Disorder in the Middle East: Regional Imbalance or Disintegration? Robert Mason. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
7. Naheem, Mohammed A. (2017). “Legitimacy of the 2017 GCC Crisis and Qatar’s AML Framework.” Journal of Money Laundering Control 24 (2): 118-35
8. UN News Centre. (2017). “The world must unite in the fight against terrorism, Qatar urges leaders at UN Assembly.” September 19.
9. “Qatar in crisis.” Frontline, 7 July 2017, www.frontline.in/world-affairs/qatar-in-crisis/article9731155.ece.