This essay examines the differences in social life and culture between the sovereign Arab State of Qatar and the United Kingdom. Geographically Qatar occupies a small peninsula in the Persian Gulf with a land border with Saudi Arabia. The United Kingdom (UK) is a sovereign state, comprising mainly of two islands with numerous smaller islands. The UK is surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea. Northern Ireland situated on the smaller of the two main islands, shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland.
Fromherz A. (2011) portrays Doha as the capital city of Qatar moving from the status of a poverty ridden ‘overgrown fishing village’ into becoming the capital city of one of the most economically successful countries in the world.
The UK, reduced in influence since Queen Victoria’s reign, when she ruled over 25% of the world’s population, is still a powerful economic player on the world scene, being a member of the European Union, the British Commonwealth and NATO. Clapson, M. (2009) sates that by the end of Victoria’s reign Britain had become the world’s first industrial nation.
Qatar is a small, petroleum-rich state with immense natural gas reserves. The state religion is Islam, and the greater part of Qatar's residents are Sunni Muslims. The actual population of the country is approximately 600,000, of whom an estimated 150,000 are citizens. The remaining 450,000 non-citizens are mostly foreign workers and their families who come from other Arab countries and South Asia. The rights and state benefits afforded to Qatari citizens such as free health care and education are not extended to these noncitizens.
Chaddock D. (2006) reports that the international Arab and Islamic com...
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... the Emir with only limited power devolved to an elected legislative advisory council.
There are certainly similarities between the social life and the cultures of both Qatar and the UK. However the UK has a much more diverse history to look back on and learn from. The country is developing into a multi racial, multi cultural society with substantial freedom of expression, despite the occasional hiccup. Orr T. (2008) describes Qatar as having a 6000 year history to look back on and having once been wealthy from the pearling industry and then having re-developed new social and cultural freedoms from the wealth generated by gas and oil under the careful control of the Emir. However the Freedom in the World (2011) journal says the country is still operating restrictions and prejudices against non-citizens which would not be accepted in the UK.
The purpose of this investigation is to analyze to what extent did Margret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, impact Britain's economy from 1997-1990. This analysis will look at themes revolving around her impact on the trade unions, tax rates, her impact on unemployment in the UK and her role in the Lawson Boom in the 1980s. However, how other neighboring countries besides the US were affected when Margaret Thatcher came to power will not be investigated. In order to research these themes, news articles in BBC will be used to help find how Margret Thatcher changed Britain and its economy. In Addition, books such as the "No Such Thing as Society" and other online journals will be used. This investigation will include an evaluation of the origin, purpose, value and limitations of the sources used for research.
In answering the above question, I shall address myself first to examining manufacturing exports and the British position, followed by a word on the Imperial Preference which hindered British trade flows with the rest of the world. I shall go on to talk more generally about whether there has been a decline in the aggregate economy (essentially exploring the pessimistic implied in the title). Further, I shall argue that the British economy has performed well against some serious cultural and structural constraints and should not be subjected to unduly negative analysis.
Throughout history, the British have been a nation of sailors and businessmen. With the dawn of the imperial era, money began to equal power, and the wealth of the British elevated them to the top of the world. As Sir Walter Raleigh said,
It is bordered by Iraq and Jordan on the north, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman and Yemen on the south. The Arabian Gulf Sea surrounded from the east and the Red Sea from the west. Saudi Arabia is a traditional monarchy. Al Saud dynasty is a royal family of the kingdom. The population of the kingdom was estimated to be 29,369,428 in 2014 - the 43rd largest in the world (Worldpopulationreview.com, 2014). In the technology side, Saudi Arabia is becoming focused on technology. They increase the spending on connectivity and human resources (Saudi Arabia Emergence of Innovation Kingdom,
The first notable positive effect of the empire is industrialization. The British having been ahead in industrial evolution helped spread technology to new places around the world. Particularly, the British Empire was responsible for the development of early industries in their colonies (Balasubramanyam & Wei, 79). They built industries in the colonies such as sugar factories, cotton factories and tobacco industries. Certainly, this was a new development in these colonies that later led to the colonies mechanizing their cottage industri...
The Arab world consists of twenty-two countries encompassing all of North Africa and much of the Middle East. The Arab people number over 360 million and while they share a common language, there is a surprising degree of diversity among them, whether in terms of nationality, culture, religion, economics, or politics. (McCaffrey, 3) Most inhabitants of the Ar...
"It's the culture, not the religion," is a Saudi saying.[19] At least according to some (Library of Congress) customs of the Arabian peninsula also play a part in women's place in Saudi society. The peninsula is the ancestral home of patriarchal, nomadic tribes, in which separation of
...gely by religious values: Conservative dress, conservative literature, and conservative behavior. Freedom of political and religious expression is not allowed, and diversions like dancing, or movies, activities are almost nonexistence in Saudi Arabia. As it has been for centuries, the cultural and political life of Saudi Arabia continues to be expressed in terms of Islamic principles.
Both countries have nearly identical scores in the dimension of masculinity. This exhibits the driving cultural forces of competition and achievement, with success held in high regard over other values. With Uncertainty Avoidance, the country is once again polarized. With the USA's relatively low score, the culture exhibits acceptance for new ideas with an emphasis on innovation and toleration. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Saudi Arabia maintains rigidity in belief systems and acceptable behaviors and ideas, valuing security over uncertainty.
Saudi Arabia, the leader of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies), maintains a powerful position in negotiations with the U.S. and other countries. Its vast supply of oil directly effects per barrel pricing and is a unique bargaining tool in international politics. But Saudi Arabia is no ordinary country in today's world. Its borders are governed by a royal family of nearly 30,000 individuals, all of which share most of the wealth and almost all of the power. Its people, with foreign exceptions, are wholly Islamic and many practice the faith with a frightening sense of devotion. And despite the immense revenue generated by its oil reserves, part of its population still lives in absolute poverty. Although recently it has seen immense change, it is still a country fair behind the progressive world.
“Revolutions are the locomotives of history” (Karl Marx). The concept of how far we’ve progressed in the past couple of centuries is hard to grasp. A revolution is defined as an instance of revolving and I think this quote from Karl Marx sums up the significance of revolutions in relevance to us as the human race; they pull us forward and allow us to progress. It’s whether or not these progressions are beneficial or not that makes or breaks the usefulness of a revolution. Although the industrial revolution in Britain had its ups and downs, it ultimately paved the road for Britain to become the world power it is today. There is much discussion about how, or why, the Industrial revolution started in Britain. I contribute this to three main attributes of Britain; the scientific and agricultural revolution, the cheap energy economy, and their social structure.
...Arabia is a petrostate. Oil dominates the national economy, international exports, and the nation’s politics. It has greatly shaped what the kingdom is today. Having started out as somewhat of a tourist economy, the kingdom has become a world, monetary power. From their massive amounts of oil and extremely cheap production, the country has been able to gain large amounts of affluence and political power. With its large abundance of oil, the country has been able to profit immensely on sales and spur diplomatic outcomes to their benefit due to the great need of the resource. Without the discovery oil, Saudi Arabia would be of little importance in the modern world, having the Grand Mosque be the extent of its importance. But because of its discovery of oil, Saudi Arabia became of international importance, coming to be one of the greatest assets to world superpowers.
In the late eighteenth century, the Industrial Revolution made its debut in Great Britain and subsequently spread across Europe, North America and the rest of the world. These changes stimulated a major transformation in the way of life, and created a modern society that was no longer rooted in agricultural production but in industrial manufacture. Great Britain was able to emerge as the world’s first industrial nation through a combination of numerous factors such as natural resources, inventions, transport systems, and the population surge. It changed the way people worked and lived, and a revolution was started. As stated by Steven Kreis in Lecture 17, “England proudly proclaimed itself to be the "Workshop of the World," a position that country held until the end of the 19th century when Germany, Japan and United States overtook it.”
United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar, and State
In “The Arab World” (1966), Edward T.Hall the American anthropologist explains the difference in behavior between Westerners and Arabs and the miscommunication between the two great cultures; he says that “Americans in the Middle East are immediately struck by two conflicting sensations. In public they are compressed and overwhelmed by smells, crowding, and high noise levels; in Arab homes Americans are apt to rattle around, feeling exposed and somewhat inadequate because of too much space”(Hall, 1966, p.94). Hall used ethos, logos, and pathos to describe clearly the behavior in public between the two cultures, and how Arabs are being pushy and rude, then he described the concept of the privacy and Arab personal distances, he also mentioned how Arabs talk to each other and how they feel about enclosed places, finally he talked about boundaries . Although Hall does not seem to persuade the reader to a certain point of view, it appears that he unintentionally made some of the Arabs beliefs and actions seem impractical and in some cases he was quite exaggerating. Moreover; I disagree w...