PhD in Applied Economics. Postgraduate Course on Economic Intelligence and Security. Economist specialised in Arab countries and their economic relations with the EU. Professor in ESIC Business and Marketing School as well as in several masters and postgraduate courses. Senior researcher in the research project group of CEMRES (Euro-Maghreb Center for Research and Strategic Studies) since 2014. She was in charge of the Business Program of Casa Árabe and worked as a Market Analyst at the Spanish Commercial Office in Amman (Jordan)
On the 5th of June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain announced the rupture of diplomatic relations and the closure of borders with Qatar in response to its alleged support for terrorist activities destabilising the region. In order to revert the situation, 13 demands were made, which Qatar refuses to meet.
Qatar was isolated within the Gulf Cooperation Council and its international image was damaged, particularly after the Trump Administration backed the blockade. In these trying circumstances, Qatar has managed to resist by developing a public diplomacy that integrates the analogue and digital environments in which communications play a vital role. Qatar has protested its innocence before regional and international public opinion, and it has denounced the anti-Qatar campaign and fake news stories that flooded social media, particularly Twitter, before and during the first months of the crisis.
It has developed a communication strategy showing its willingness to open dialogue, respect for international bodies where it defended its cause, together with diplomatic activities reinforcing its positions before very diverse actors such as the United States, international bodies, Kuwait and Turkey. Qatar used this strategy to transform its online influence into offline diplomatic influence until it succeeded in getting Kuwait to act as mediator, with the support of the United States, in order to put an end to the blockade, which was the top goal of its foreign policy.
El 5 de junio de 2017 Arabia Saudí, Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Egipto y Bahréin anunciaron la ruptura de relaciones diplomáticas y el cierre de fronteras con Qatar por apoyar supuestamente actividades terroristas que desestabilizaban la región. Para revertir esta situación se le exigen 13 requisitos que se niega a cumplir Qatar quedó aislado dentro del Consejo de Cooperación del Golfo a la vez que su imagen internacional se resintió, sobre todo tras el apoyo de la Administración Trump al bloqueo. En una coyuntura tan difícil, Qatar ha podido resistir desarrollando una diplomacia pública que integra los entornos analógico y digital y en la que la comunicación desempeña un papel esencial. Qatar defiende su inocencia ante la opinión pública regional e internacional y denuncia la campaña antiQatar y las noticias falsas que inundaron las redes sociales, especialmente Twitter, antes y en los primeros meses de la crisis. Desarrolla una estrategia de comunicación que muestra una disposición al diálogo, un respeto a los organismos internacionales donde defiende su causa junto con una actividad diplomática que refuerza sus posiciones ante actores tan variados como Estados Unidos, organismos internacionales, Kuwait o Turquía. Con esta estrategia Qatar transforma su influencia online en una influencia diplomática offline hasta conseguir que la mediación de Kuwait, con el apoyo de los Estados Unidos, ponga fin al bloqueo, máximo objetivo de su política exterior.
Santamaría, Ana Isabel González. Qatar’s communication strategy and the resolution of the diplomatic conflict in the Gulf. Thematic dossier International Relations and Social Networks, July 2021. Consulted [online] on date of last visit, https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.DT21.9
Article received on 5 January, 2021 and accepted for publication on 18 March, 2021
