Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Dr Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari has stressed that Qatar constantly reviews how it can impact the world and maintain its national security.
He was speaking at a session of the London Second Century Conference, organized by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).
Al Ansari said Qatar's review of its policies as well as regional and international developments yielded a new theme for Qatar's foreign policy of being a trusted international partner.
In plenary session titled "Perspectives on the future of global order" discussed three potential scenarios for international politics. He said that current global developments are affecting what smaller and medium powers like Qatar can do at the international arena.
He said that there are three possible paths; the first is that large powers and competing powers are around the world will be set free from the restrictions imposed by the global order. He said that, in that path, the characteristics of the global order since the end of the cold war will be lost. He noted that such a world will be chaotic in nature, motivated by national interests without regard for international needs.
He added that the second path is related to liberalism's inevitability. He noted in that regard that, since World War II, any country had to embrace a path towards liberal democracy regardless of that country's place in the world under that path. He expressed his belief that this characteristic could change if there is agreement on the essence of the global order and the prevalent values today.
He added that such an agreement could open up a way to a broader system that excepts different models of political development, in return for maintaining the essence of the global system.
He noted that the third path would be similar in many ways to pre-World War II, when there wasn't a full-formed global order and things are resolved on a case by case basis. He added that the world has already seen the result of adopting such a path in the past.
He pointed out that regardless of whether one of these paths will be reached or a combination of them, the biggest challenge will be for small countries to try and figure out how to survive these troubled waters.
He pointed to a new study that discusses the challenges facing 27 democratic countries' political system.
He added that such challenges reveal a changing scene, in which conflict and instability are not confined to the developing world only, but also infiltrate even the historical liberal democracies, and therefore smaller countries such as Qatar will be the most affected by moving quickly toward removing the constraints regulating the world order.
