A Preliminary Analysis On Khalifa's Reform In Qatar

Qatar was a region which had long been overlooked in human history,due to its relatively narrow territory,small population and harsh natural circumstance.The discovery of oil dramatically altered the image of this land.The al-Thani family as the ruling one reinforced its authority with abundant revenue through oil exploitation and pushed forward the transformation of Qatar from a traditional tribal state towards a modern nation-state.Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani(1972-1995),the sixth head of the al-Thani family,played a significant role in this process.After becoming the de facto ruler of the state at 1960s,Khalifa initiated a series measures of reform on politic and economic.In politics,Khalifa proclaimed a provisional constitution,which established the responsibilities and functions of Emir,the Council of Ministries and the Consultative Assembly.The scale of executive administrative was enlarged by providing opportunities of employment in public aspects for Qataris.Despite of some turmoil,Khalifa contained the restless ruling family and kept the regime relatively stable.The nationalization of the oil resouce was Khalifa's most important reform on economics.The rapidly rising of oil price in 1973 brought about the a decade-long period of oil-prosperity.Simultaneously,a policy to diverse the economy and improve the social welfare system was undertaken by the government.Nevertheless,Khalifa coundn't cope with the problems emerging at the end of his reign and toppled by his son in a bloodless palace coup.Qatar underwent a process of authoritarian modernisation with characteristics of classical rentier state under Khalifa.