Qatar’s World Cup: Is it what it seems?

Many debates have been sparked during the lead-up to this year’s World Cup. With Qatar being the first middle eastern country to host a World Cup ever after winning the bid in 2010, there has been a heightened interest in the country’s political stance. The most notable debates surrounding the World Cup have been controversies regarding humanitarian issues such as modern-day slavery, policies surrounding LQBTQ+ rights and the infrastructure of Qatar.

The majority of Qatar’s finances are from the export of gas and oil. The gas and oil industry has and remains to be a lucrative industry for countries. However, political events such as COP27 promised that the world’s leaders intend to make a conscious effort to reduce their use and reliance on fossil fuels makes the industry less secure. Qatar has vocalised that they intend to try to avoid the ‘curse’ of being a one-industry country.

Economic Diversification

This is a process called economic diversification. Economic Diversification is the process of moving an economy from one primary source of income to developing multiple streams of income. Economic Diversification has been used as a strategy to encourage positive economic growth and development. It allows countries to move from a high carbon emissions industry to choosing incomes that have less reliance on fossil fuels and are more climate resilient.

All of the above could be argued to have given the people of Qatar access a higher quality of life than they previously had. Becoming economically diverse also allows for more freedom when making political decisions. In June 2013 the neighbouring countries of Qatar had decided to cut off all air, sea and land connections to Qatar unless 13 demands were met by Qatar. Some of which included severing connections with Turkey. Qatar was unable to meet these demands due to the export of gas and oil to these countries. For a country that has been held under immense negative scrutiny due to their human rights practices, it seems they have experienced political pressure  which could have played a big part in their decision to become economically diverse.

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