Qatar is a seemingly small country geographically but it wields a great deal of power. Qatar is home to many military bases and a thriving culture that has connections with all of its surrounding neighbors. The country was formed early on by boundaries that did not seem as significant at the time. The formation of boundaries between different regions and different political divisions can be readily seen at work in the modern world. For instance, the dissolving of the Soviet Union rewrote boundaries throughout Eastern Europe and Asia, with new nations being added to the map on a regular basis.
Another example of how these divisions begin can be found in different government models in use throughout the world. Democracy is an open system in which the power of the government is derived directly from the people governed. The US is an example of a democracy. A dictatorship is a government in which one individual holds complete power and generally uses military might to control the population and the government. Cuba is an example of a dictatorship.
Monarchies rely on a royal personage as the head of government. There are few monarchies in existence any longer, though they were prevalent only a few hundred years ago. Some nations, such as Great Britain, still retain a limited monarchy. A republic is a system in which the populace controls the government through representatives – the US and other nations have elements of republican government.
A theocracy is a government in which the state is controlled by a religion. Many Muslim nations including Qatar are technically theocracies, in which priests wield considerable power and little or no secular government exists. Very few nations today are pure theocracies, though. A totalitarian form of government is one in which the government has an effect on every aspect of its citizens' lives. The government controls almost everything, from religion to manufacturing, from news to the military.
There are many different factors that affect the power to control territory and resources, as well as to create conflict and even war. Both human and physical factors also can impact international relations with different countries around the world. Human factors include the type of government in power, as well as their view of other nations and their own place in the world.
Physical factors include the location of the region in question relative to those nations. Other physical factors should include the location and prevalence of natural resources available to the region and geographic features that might prevent the spread of advanced technology to the region. With these factors in mind Qatar was divided and built to the surprisingly powerful country that it is today.
