Qatar is tied with Liechtenstein for the distinction of being the world's wealthiest country on the basis of per capita GDP. People are asking why it seems to be just about the only country in North Africa and the Middle East that has had no rumblings of protests and demonstrations. There is some interesting information which offers a story about that.
Qatar's history is very similar to that of its neighbors. It became established as an emirate separate from Bahrain ruled by the al Thani family under the protection of Britain in the late 19th C. It became a fully independent state in 1971. The country has been ruled since 1995 by the present Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani who over threw his father in a bloodless coup. His rule has been somewhat more liberal than that of his father. Internationally he is best known for his support Al Jazeera news channel.
Despite the global financial crisis, Qatar has prospered in the last several years - in 2010 Qatar had the world's highest growth rate. Qatari authorities throughout the crisis sought to protect the local banking sector with direct investments into domestic banks. GDP rebounded in 2010 largely due to the increase in oil prices. Economic policy is focused on developing Qatar's nonassociated natural gas reserves and increasing private and foreign investment in non-energy sectors, but oil and gas still account for more than 50% of GDP, roughly 85% of export earnings, and 70% of government revenues. Oil and gas have made Qatar the second highest per-capita income country - following Liechtenstein - and likely the country with the lowest unemployment. Proved oil reserves of 15 billion barrels should enable continued output at current levels for 37 years. Qatar's proved reserves of natural gas exceed 25 trillion cubic meters, about 14% of the world total and third largest in the world. Qatar's successful 2022 world cup bid will likely accelerate large-scale infrastructure projects such as Qatar's metro system and the Qatar-Bahrain causeway.
CIA World Factbook
Qatar has a population of about 850 K people. Only about 25% of those people are citizens of the country. The rest are expatriates from various countries. The bulk of them come from India and a smaller group from Pakistan. While this pattern of large expatriate work forces recurres all over the area, Qatar is by far the most extreme case. Most of the people there are not citizens so that what ever political rights might be granted to citizens, are being granted to a minority elite. Everybody else is a temp.
Here again we have a hereditary monarch who appoints a member of the royal family as prime minister. The legal system is still heavily influenced by Islamic law. The assembly is only consultative in its powers. While the constitution that was ratified in 2003 calls for the assembly to be elected by the franchise of all citizens, elections haven't actually been held. The emir keeps deferring to a later date. They are presently planned for 2013.
The religious structure is predominantly Sunni. Only about 6% of the population are Shia.
So what about the lack of protests in Qatar? Most of the people who are there can have their employment contracts canceled and be deported on very short notice, Due process is not on offer. That doesn't mean that the rules of Qatar aren't getting nervous. They are warily eying the unrest in Bahrain and Oman. They are offering billions in aid to those countries to be used to buy off the protesters. While Al-Jazeera English has provided detailed coverage of protests in neighboring countries, there are some suggestions that the Arabic language broadcast may be a bit more restrained.