Qatar

Ruled by the Al Thani family since the mid-1800s Qatar within the last 60 years transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for pearling into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues. The continuous siphoning off of petroleum revenue through the mid-1990s by Qatari amirs permanently residing in Europe had stunted Qatar’s economic growth. Former amir HAMAD bin Khalifa Al Thani who overthrew his father in a bloodless coup in 1995 ushered in wide-sweeping political and media reforms unprecedented economic investment and a growing Qatari regional leadership role in part through the creation of the pan-Arab satellite news network Al-Jazeera and Qatar's mediation of some regional conflicts. In the 2000s Qatar resolved its longstanding border disputes with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and by 2007 had attained the highest per capita income in the world. Qatar did not experience domestic unrest or violence like that seen in other Near Eastern and North African countries in 2010-11 due in part to its immense wealth. Since the outbreak of regional unrest however Doha has prided itself on its support for many of these popular revolutions particularly in Libya and Syria although to the detriment of Qatar’s relations with Bahrain Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which temporarily recalled their respective ambassadors from Qatar. In mid-2013 HAMAD transferred power to his 33 year-old son the current Amir TAMIM bin Hamad - a peaceful abdication rare in the history of Arab Gulf states. TAMIM oversaw a warming of Qatar’s relations with Bahrain Saudi Arabia and the UAE by later in 2014 and prioritized improving the domestic welfare of Qataris including establishing advanced healthcare and education systems and expanding the country's infrastructure in anticipation of Doha's hosting of the 2022 World Cup.