Sport in a dangerous neighbourhood
Iranian attack on Qatar provides further evidence about why it wanted to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup
For decades, government officials in Doha have observed that Qatar lives in a dangerous neighbourhood.
A quick glance at a map of the region helps validate this, now the bombing of an American air base just outside the country’s capital confirms it.
Qatar’s initial decision to host the United States’ biggest military base in West Asia was one response in addressing the small Gulf nation’s strategic vulnerabilities.
Deciding to bid for the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup was another.
Some critics still argue that the main driving force for Qatar’s ambitions has always been sport washing.
Others point to corruption as being at the root of the country’s ultimately successful World Cup bid.
Both sets of observations always over simplified the geographic and strategic position Qatar still finds itself in, hosting the World Cup was always about much more than most people realise.
Partly, it was about soft power and nation building, but mainly it was about creating strategic interdependencies with other nations to address Qatar’s troubling neighbourhood issues.
The core principle of creating such interdependencies is that if you matter to another country, then they are more likely to protect the relationships they have with you.
The infrastructure and stock of civic amenities created to underpin the World Cup were funded and built not just by the Qataris themselves, but also by countries ranging from Norway and the United States to Japan and France.
And this continues today; the hotels, shopping malls, IT businesses and management consultancies, even military bases are commonly owned and run by overseas entities.
The sport facilities too, which will see Qatar hosting a raft of major sporting events in the future, possibly including the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
It was no surprise that Iran (population of 90 million, 1.6 million km2) chose to retaliate against US and Israeli bombings by attacking its smaller neighbour (population of 3 million, 11,571 km2 in size).
Equally, it was no surprise that the attack precipitated a major development in the conflict.
When Qatari interests come under attack, so too do the interests of numerous other countries.
Even Iran.