Qatar will act as a balancing actor within the GCC

Significance

This completes the normalisation of relations between Qatar and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members under the 2021 Al-Ula Declaration; already Doha had normalised its ties with Saudi Arabia and, less straightforwardly, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Al-Ula Declaration succeeded where the 2014 Riyadh Agreement failed because it was better considered and structured. Shifting regional geopolitics helped too.

Impacts

• The resetting of objectives will draw a line under the regional volatility in the GCC which began with the Arab uprisings in 2011.
• Officials across the GCC will confront a different set of challenges which no longer revolve around Qatar’s policy choices.
• Economic competition between Saudi Arabia and the UAE is likely to create opportunities for Doha to balance regional relationships.