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Credibility fault lines in Qatari strategic narratives

Sat, September 2, 8:00 to 9:30am, Westin St. Francis, Olympic Room

Abstract

This paper investigates, through a constructivist perspective, how members of the Qatari elites are using soft power to achieve their country’s foreign policy goals, and how successful this is. The paper critically engages with the concept of soft power and argues that soft power is relational power which can empirically be investigated by examining the strategic narratives developed and projected by members of the Qatari elites. The paper discusses the formation and projection of two Qatari counter-narratives: ‘Qatar: a progressive liberal state’ and ‘Qatar: a conservative Arab state’. Since attraction is socially constructed, the paper further argues that Qatari strategic narratives only have the potential to generate soft power when they are projected towards specific audiences which are linked to Qatar’s foreign policy goals. How these audiences read Qatari strategic narratives is crucial for members of the Qatari elites to wield soft power and hence, to achieve their foreign policy goals.

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