When people
think of the Middle East, they tend to think of poverty, or armed conflict.
They probably don’t think about mind-boggling wealth. And yet that is exactly
what you’ll find in Qatar. The nation sits on the world’s third largest deposit
of natural gas, and has the highest GDP per capita of any nation on Earth. So,
while the rest of the region is dealing with protests driven in part by impoverished
masses, Qatar enjoys a great amount of stability.
But this
wealth and stability does not come without cost. Of Qatar’s almost 2 million
residents, native Qatari’s make up only 15%. The nation has a staggering number
of migrant workers, working in conditions described by Human Rights watch as
slave labor. The nation’s demographics seem to reflect the earlier age of
feudalism, with a large servant class serving a relatively small number of
land-owners. Essentially, the entire country is a gated community.
Qatar’s
stability doesn’t look to be permanent, as it is largely maintained through
government handouts and subsidies, many of which are unsustainable in the long
run. Even the wealthy native Qatari’s (average income of $690,000) have very
little political representation, with the nation being run, largely without
oversight, by the emir, a position similar to king. What’s interesting looking
forward is where things will start to break. Will the money run dry, causing
native Qataris to demand more representation as compensation? Or will the
downtrodden working class realize who has the numbers advantage and stage a
proletarian revolution? This is all assuming things come to a boil at all, of
course; it is entirely possible that Qatar will continue to avoid the wave of revolution
in the region. One thing’s for sure; this insanely wealthy nation is one to
keep an eye on in the coming years.
Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21029018
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