The Role of the UAE and Qatar in Regional Diplomacy of the Middle East: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

This article explores the shifting diplomatic roles of the two Gulf states – the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar – in the Middle East as a whole. Although both are small and relatively small in both population and geography, both have evolved as valuable diplomatic players. Still, their strategies differ: the UAE has a more structured, state centred pragmatic foreign policy, focusing on security cooperation, economic intervention and regional military incursions, while Qatar prioritises mediation and relies on soft power, humanitarian diplomacy, and relations with several disparate embedded actors. This counterpart analysis attempts to detail their foreign policy goals and means, instruments, case studies on diplomacy, achievements and limitations, and how their relations influence regional order and coordination. Their resources project order, but the disparity in the means and order of their deployment results in diverse engagements; the risk and scope to which these alter the Middle East, are also different.