Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

Fall 9-1-2014

Publication Title

Sustainable development : an appraisal from the Gulf Region

Department

Sociology & Anthropology

Abstract

This book chapter considers how sustainable development fits in the social, political, and cultural context of contemporary Doha, Qatar. After a review of sustainable development and urban development in Qatar, this chapter makes several contentions. First, it contends that sustainable development poses a challenge to the political stability of a society that distributes state-controlled wealth to its citizenry through urban development. Second, it points to the fact that Qatar's tribal/authoritarian political regime is antithetical to some of the bottom-up democratic principles thought to underpin sustainable development. Finally, it suggest that the consignment of sustainable development efforts to the spatial discourse of urban planning in Doha and throughout the region also confounds the principles of sustainable development.

Comments

This is the penultimate version submitted to the editor. Very slight revisions were made to this version.

pp.

333-366

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