Qatar is a small nation controlled by the Persian Gulf's largest ruling family, the Al Thani. The amir, Shaykh Khalifa ibn Hamad Al Thani, is the nation's ruler, but his son, Shaykh Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani, in addition to being the heir apparent and minister of defense, wields considerable power in the day-to-day running of the nation. The Al Thani regime tolerates no political opposition. The social mores of the nation are shaped by a somewhat milder version of Wahhabi Islam than is found in neighboring Saudi Arabia. Women are permitted to drive if they obtain permits, for example, and non-Qatari women need not veil in public.

The early 1990s also constituted a watershed time in foreign relations because the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq on August 2, 1990, changed regional and world alignments. Qatar sent troops to fight for Kuwait's liberation and, reversing its previous opposition to the presence of foreign forces in the region, permitted United States, Canadian, and French air force fighter aircraft to operate from Doha. This placed Qatar firmly on the anti-Iraq side of the great rift that split the Arab world after the invasion and weakened the full support for the Palestine Liberation Organization that the nation had previously shown.