Qatar’s Societal Security: Towards the Inclusive National Concept of ‘Baladna’

Identity, Migration and External Threats Since 2017

Cihat Battaloğlu

Gerlach Press
Language: English
1. Edition (2026-04)
Hardcover, c. 200 pages
HC ISBN 9783959941976
Availability: not yet published
95.00 € (excl. VAT)

Since the 1990s, Qatar has been expanding its concept of societal security to address migration as a presumed threat to national identity. Local citizens regarded communities of migrants increasingly as a threat to existing cultural and linguistic norms, and as a challenge to the country's traditional “we”.

The crisis of 2017, which isolated Qatar through a regional blockade, fundamentally changed the perception of the country's societal security. In response, Qatar turned ‘Baladna’ (‘our country’) into a symbol of inclusion, expanding tribal solidarity into a unifying national identity that encompassed both citizens and non-citizens.

Following Nordic models, the understanding of societal security in Qatar has transformed from a concern about identity to the protection of vital functions of society as a whole.