Qatar’s Societal Security: Towards the Inclusive National Concept of ‘Baladna’: Identity, Migration and External Threats since 2017

Since the 1990s, Qatar has been expanding its concept of societal security to address migration as a presumed threat to national identity. Local citizens regarded communities of migrants increasingly as a threat to existing cultural and linguistic norms, and as a challenge to the country's traditional “we”. The crisis of 2017, which isolated Qatar through a regional blockade, fundamentally changed the perception of the country's societal security. In response, Qatar turned ‘Baladna’ (‘our country’) into a symbol of inclusion, expanding tribal solidarity into a unifying national identity that encompassed both citizens and non-citizens. Following Nordic models, the understanding of social security in Qatar has transformed from a concern about identity to the protection of vital functions of society as a whole.

• Publication date: 25 August 2026
• Page count: 200
• Dimensions: Height 240 mm; Width 158 mm
• Publisher: Gerlach Press
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9783959941976