Qatar

Country in the Middle East, occupying Qatar peninsula in the Gulf, bounded southwest by Saudi Arabia and south by United Arab Emirates.

Government
A provisional constitution adopted 1970 confirmed Qatar as an absolute monarchy, with the emir holding all executive and legislative powers. The emir appoints and heads a council of ministers, which includes a prime minister. An advisory council of 30 was established 1972, with limited powers to question ministers. There are no political parties.

History
For early history, see Arabia. Qatar, which used to be under Bahrain's control, has had a treaty with Britain since 1868. It was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1872 until World War I. The British government gave formal recognition 1916 to Sheikh Abdullah al-Thani as Qatar's ruler, guaranteeing protection in return for an influence over the country's external affairs. In 1968 Britain announced its intention of withdrawing its forces from the Gulf area by 1981, and Qatar, having failed in an attempt to form an association with other Gulf states, became fully independent in September 1971. A new treaty of friendship with the UK replaced the former protectorate.

After independence
In 1972, while Emir Sheikh Ahmad was out of the country, his cousin Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani led a bloodless coup. Already prime minister, he now also declared himself emir and embarked on an ambitious programme of social and economic reform, curbing the extravagances of the royal family. Good relations with most of its neighbours have given Qatar the reputation of being one of the more stable and moderate Arab states, although more than 43% of GNP is spent on defence. The country's oil and gas resources, discovered in the 1940s, have made it one of the richest in the world, in per capita terms. But development programmes have been hampered by a lack of skilled workers. In the 1991 Gulf War, Qatar's forces fought with the United Nations coalition against the Iraqi occupiers of Kuwait.

In June 1995 Sheikh Khalifa was ousted in a bloodless coup by his son Crown Prince Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. As defence minister, the Crown Prince had modernized the country's armed forces and had been responsible for day-to-day control of Qatar since 1992. In February 1996 Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani outlined moves towards a more democratic political system. These included, giving women the right to vote (in 1997), a new constitution, and the launch (in 1996) of Al Jazeera, a leading English and Arabic news source with a website and satellite television news channel. In March 1996 he survived an attempted assassination which was part of a plot to restore the prince's ousted father to the throne.

In March 2001, Qatar and Bahrain accepted the ruling of the International Court of Justice on a long-standing territorial dispute. In 2003, Qatar was one of launching sites for the US invasion of Iraq. Despite the support it has given the USA, the country had not experienced acts of terrorism on its soil until 2005, when a suicide bombing killed a British teacher at the Doha Players Theatre.