Qatar and other economically prosperous small states can make a significant contribution to global stability, His Excellency Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani has said, calling for them to play a larger role in shaping international peace and security.
Speaking at the Oxford Union in Oxford, England, Friday, the prime minister delivered a lecture titled “Prosperity in a Divided World: Small States and Redrawing the Map of Global Influence.” He highlighted the growing importance of smaller but prosperous nations in an increasingly divided international landscape.
Countries that had prospered and become essential to global economic development, he said, were uniquely placed to promote peace, not through individual initiatives but through a collective, organised and sustained approach.
The post-war international order, he recalled, rested on the principle that peace could not rely on military strength alone, but on rules, institutions and open markets. Since 1945, more than 120 countries have joined the international community, giving previously underrepresented peoples a voice. This opened opportunities for smaller countries, including Qatar, to prosper while being protected against annexation, regional domination and rivalry between major powers.
Many of these countries were neither regional powers nor superpowers, yet had made considerable progress by investing in their people, infrastructure and economic models. Some now use their collective influence to advance peace and stability. Traditional developed and developing classifications, he argued, fail to reflect their achievements, so he proposed a new designation: “prosperous states,” meaning countries that are resilient, stable, prosperous and trusted, and have turned their small size into an advantage.
The world, he said, stands at a crossroads shaped by overlapping conflicts, technological breakthroughs and shifting alliances, a historic moment that comes once in a generation. The international community must rise to it rather than remain passive.
He acknowledged that the post-war order has not always been fair or consistently applied, and cautioned against idealising a system in which power has always played a role. Still, it remains preferable to the alternatives, much as democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others. The UN Charter’s principles, including sovereign equality and the peaceful settlement of disputes, have helped smaller nations defend their rights and expand their room for independent decisions.
Yet while economic opportunity has globalised, decisions on peace and security remain concentrated among a small number of countries, often excluding nations essential to global prosperity.
The ongoing war in the region, he said, has exposed the danger of this imbalance. Decades of military adventurism, unresolved conflicts, violations of international law and ambitions for regional domination have disrupted energy supplies, threatened vital maritime routes and unsettled markets. Countries not directly involved are bearing the consequences, and smaller states are increasingly the first victims of conflicts they played no part in creating. He asked how states with limited strategic depth and little coercive power could help preserve the international order without compromising their sovereignty.
Turning to Qatar, he said the country recognised that its future depended not only on its resources but on the capabilities it developed and the relationships it built. It therefore invested in its people and economy, establishing itself as a reliable and trusted partner.
Qatar’s geography and the realities of the global economy, he explained, meant its prosperity could not be separated from regional and international conflicts.
That understanding led it to invest in peace facilitation and mediation, keeping channels open to parties others could not always reach. Its numerous mediation efforts have given it unique experience in conflict resolution. He described Qatar’s journey as that of a nation whose people prospered and then extended a hand to share the benefits.
Qatar now faces campaigns promoting misleading narratives, he said, as well as military attacks by parties who do not believe peace should be humanity’s natural condition. Such actors subscribe to a Hobbesian view in which conflict is the natural state and power alone decides outcomes, and they actively work to make that a reality. Those who regard the rules-based order as unnatural, he warned, are seeking to undermine it, and the system must be protected precisely against them.
The challenges facing Gulf countries, he said, extend beyond the region to the international system itself and to the opportunities that enabled Qatar to prosper.
Qatar is not alone, as other prosperous countries have also used an open environment to build strong institutions and connected economies. Prosperous states, however, cannot meet these challenges independently or replace major powers. By combining their experience, economic capabilities and diplomatic networks, they could help build and sustain an integrated framework for peace.
Lasting stability, he stressed, requires prevention, effective crisis responses, efforts to end conflicts and the preservation of the conditions for stability. Neglecting any of these would let conflict become the prevailing condition. He also questioned the role of international institutions, noting that regional and non-regional groupings increasingly fill gaps where existing bodies have failed.
Peace and stability, he reiterated, are not luxuries for prosperous states but fundamental conditions for their development. He revealed that Qatari mediators are currently working to prevent a new wave of escalation in the region.
Responsibility for stability cannot simply be delegated, he concluded, and the international community should not surrender to inaction. History, he stressed, remembers those who take the initiative and shape events, not passive observers.
