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Transnational Identity and Foreign Policy: Tribal Identity and the Gulf Crisis

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submitted on 2024-02-11, 04:48 and posted on 2024-02-12, 09:57 authored by Abdulla Al-Etaibi

The 2017 Gulf crisis has been largely framed as a diplomatic and economic one. However, the involvement of tribal identity in the foreign policy responses of Gulf states also made it a socio-political crisis. This paper adopts role identity theory as a framework for analysing how domestic politics and culture shaped international relations among GCC states during the crisis. According to this framework, tribal identity becomes operative in foreign policy when states can present themselves as fulfilling roles that distinguish them within a regional or international state system. Gulf states adopted new role identities defined in terms of tribe and tribal identity that then shaped the formulation and implementation of their diplomatic policies. During the crisis, Saudi Arabia adopted the role identity of tribe protector to undermine sovereign boundaries. The Qatari government on the other hand adopted the role of national unifier, rejecting tribal identity and ideologies. The implications of mobilising tribes are examined from the regime survival perspective, particularly scrutinising the gradual consolidation of the Qatari national identity to reduce risks posed to the regime.

Other Information

Published in: Journal of Arabian Studies
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21534764.2022.2225669

Funding

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

History

Language

  • English

Publisher

Routledge

Publication Year

  • 2023

License statement

This Item is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Institution affiliated with

  • Qatar University
  • College of Arts and Sciences - QU

Geographic coverage

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

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