THE GUARDIAN: With freedoms and opportunities unavailable elsewhere in the region, the people of Qatar have no need of extremism, Sheikha Mozah of the Gulf state tells Ian Black
Sipping sweet Arabic coffee from a delicate porcelain cup, one of the most influential women in the Middle East is pondering the challenges of reconciling globalisation, identity and tradition, explaining how one small country is facing its future - and how to build bridges between civilisations.
Walter Bagehot, the 19th-century British constitutional thinker, would have recognised what he called the "mystique of monarchy" in Sheikha Mozah, the consort (and second of three wives) of the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. But alongside the visible trappings of power, wealth and style, there is a remarkable sense, too, of intellectual rigour, of a woman thinking hard about youth, education and the troubled relations between Islam and the west.
Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al-Missned is unveiled and unusual - a sociology graduate and force for modernisation on the edge of a deeply conservative peninsula. Her high-profile role at home is matched by regular appearances abroad: hence her visit to London this week to receive the prestigious Chatham House prize for international relations, with Prince Andrew on hand at a City banquet to present it.
The difficulty for Qatar, she explains in a wide-ranging conversation at her discreetly opulent Surrey mansion, has been to advance socially without being swept away on the homogenising tide of global change.
"We were confused. Our youth were very close to losing their identity," she says. "We needed something that could be acceptable to young minds and also be part of our heritage and culture."
The emirate is a lucky little place. Its oil and gas reserves generate a whopping per capita annual income of $63,000 (£32,000), placing it among the world's wealthiest countries. The capital, Doha, is a booming cityscape of cranes, glittering towers, five-star hotels and shopping malls. All that is serviced by an army of expats who far outnumber the 250,000 Qatari natives, whose grandparents lived in a world of pearl-divers, falconry and camel racing.
The Qatar Investment Authority is close to buying Sainsbury's, and Qatar Airways is a byword for luxury. There is enough spare cash to spend an enviable 2.8% of GDP on research and development.
"The physical landscape has changed but the real difference is in people's minds, in their style of thinking," says Sheikha Mozah. "Pride and confidence allow them to be open to the rest of the world without hesitation. Now they feel they are part of this process [of change], and they feel responsibility. If you want to achieve a prosperous society, you need that. And I like to think we have achieved that." The satisfaction guarantee (more) By Ian Black
Mark Alexander
