Analysis of the crisis in Qatar-Saudi Arabia relations in the framework of Qatar's soft power

With the severance of ties between Saudi Arabia and several countries in the region with Qatar in 2017, the Persian Gulf region entered a complex political crisis. Analysts cite several reasons for the crisis; In the meantime, these measures seem to be, above all, the result of Doha's success in its foreign policy and its emergence as an important regional player alongside traditional Middle Eastern actor. In response to the question of how Qatar's use of soft power in foreign policy has affected the formation of the Gulf crisis, in this article we found that the Qatar government has been using soft power as an effective tool of politics since 2011. It is independent of the traditional powers of the region.Qatar is one of the countries that has been able to increase its importance and influence from a small country and a particle to an active level in the region and even effective participation in international coalitions in recent years, especially after 2011, and has played a role beyond its position and capacity, It has been able to play an active role at the regional level while ensuring its security and stability. The extent of events in the geographical area of ​​the region indicates the influence of Qatar's foreign policy. In fact, given the inherent vulnerability of this country, including low population and manpower, small size and small Gulf countries under the protection of Saudi Arabia and its two strengths, namely wealth and media, we can say that this country has been able to achieve many successes. In recent years. In the last decade, Qatar has been able to make good use of its soft power components, such as funding, powerful tools of Al Jazeera television, active public diplomacy and strong ties with world powers, and despite its power constraints, it has emerged as a major regional player.. Of course, this active presence in regional crises and trends has also caused problems for this country, such as the severance of political relations and economic sanctions by several Arab countries in the region in 2017, which is referred to as the Persian Gulf crisis. According to many experts, the crisis in Qatar's relations with these countries is the result of its success in foreign policy and its transformation into an influential actor alongside other traditional actors in the region, including Saudi Arabia and the Foreign policy in which soft power is one of the most important tools. The question is, what tools and capacities does Qatar use to benefit from soft power? And what effect does Qatar's success have in using soft power tools which created a crisis in its relations with other Arab countries in the region? In this research, by descriptive-analytical method and with the assumption that Qatar accurately and calculated use of soft power tools, as one of the main reasons for the success of the country's foreign policy and consequently one of the main differences in Doha's relations with Riyadh and other Arab countries sanctioning Doha, let us analyze the reasons for the formation of these differences. It is important to answer this question in the light of the fact that research on the crisis in Saudi-Qatari relations has so far failed to address the extent to which Qatar enjoys soft power and its impact on the formation and intensification of the crisis.According to Joseph Nye, soft power has always been an important element of leadership. Leadership is intertwined with power, and leaders must have accurate estimates of the types of power they use. "Power has never been created from barrels of gunpowder," says Nye, a leader who ignores the importance of soft power. For a country like Qatar with low hardware capabilities, because of its small size and population, using soft power tools is the best choice to advance foreign policy. In general, the security forces, the traditional and great powers of the region, which themselves are competing with other great regional and supra-regional powers in order to advance the goals of national foreign policy, do not accept the presence of emerging powers. Qatar's entry into regional games, especially after the Islamic Awakening, and its success in advancing its goals through tools such as active diplomacy, the use of media, alliances with regional and supra-regional opposition poles, and financial support for opposition groups in any case. With the foreign policy of the traditional powers in the region, caused tensions between the country and Saudi Arabia. Of course, what happened in the form of the severance of relations between Saudi Arabia and several Arab countries with Qatar in 2017 was, above all, due to the ideological divide between the Salafis and the Brotherhood between the two countries. The division, which has manifested itself in the form of financial and media support, especially after 2011 in Qatar's support for Hamas in Gaza, Morsi in Egypt, pro-Turkish armed groups in Syria and Libya. Tensions that escalated into a political and economic crisis on the part of Saudi Arabia and several other countries eventually led to the severance of diplomatic relations. Investigating the causes of the crisis in Qatar-Saudi Arabia relations, some of which are referred to as the Persian Gulf earthquake, as well as looking at the conditions that these countries have set for the lifting of sanctions against Qatar, confirms well that Saudi Arabia wants to cut off soft power. Qatar is thereby removing the country from the regional equation as an emerging rival. This is primarily due to Qatar's success in using soft power tools to make it an important player in the tense Middle East region, as well as the importance of soft power as a powerful and effective tool in foreign policy, away from traditional power principles such as military sophistication and Shows large crowds.