Considering its vast wealth and social stability, Qatar has been in the unique position of being able to utilise both soft and hard power to promote its interests both regionally and internationally. After several years of multi-billion spending on arms for all branches of its military, in 2015, Qatar remained quite passive on the defence market, making it highly likely that the biggest shopping spree is over, and the country will now focus on integrating recently purchased hardware into its defence system. While Qatar has the money to purchase whatever it might require, it does not have the people to build sizeable armed forces. The military does recruit non-Qatari's to fill its ranks, but obviously it cannot recruit overmuch from this source. Over the years it has gained some valuable combat experience through border disputes with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (these disputes are now settled).
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