Qatar's Societal Security: Towards the Inclusive National Concept of 'Baladna' Identity, Migration and External Threats Since 2017

Since the 1990s, Qatar has been expanding its concept of societal security to address migration as a presumed threat to national identity. Local citizens regarded communities of migrants increasingly as a threat to existing cultural and linguistic norms, and as a challenge to the country's traditional "we".

The crisis of 2017, which isolated Qatar through a regional blockade, fundamentally changed the perception of the country's societal security. In response, Qatar turned 'Baladna' ('our c...