The study is an attempt to explore the nature and role of the Arab press in the Arab foreign policy. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first effort to investigate empirically the relationship between the press and foreign policy in a regional context. The Arab region which consists of 22 sovereign and independent Arab states was selected to conduct this research. However, 4 Arab countries were chosen, as a sample, for their active influential and participative role in Arab foreign policy and diplomacy. This study has two levels of investigation: the general level and the particular one. Under the general level there are three aims. (1) The main aim is to investigate the nature and role of the national (domestic) Arab press in Arab foreign policy. (2) The second aim is to investigate the nature and role of the emigre Arab press in Arab foreign policy. (3) The subordinate aim is the investigate the relationship between the Arab press and the intelligence service. Under the particular level, there are two revealing case studies. The first one between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and the second one between Saudi Arabia and Sudan. Both case studies investigate the role of the various Arab press in the foreign policy and diplomacy of those selected countries. For this study, I interviewed prominent Arab officials and Arab journalists in four major Arab capitals: Beirut, Damascus, Cairo and Riyadh. Also some Arab officials and Arab journalists were interviewed in London because this Western capital has become significant for the emigre Arab press.

Ce travail étudie l’évolution des politiques de défense et des acquisitions militaires du Qatar et des Emirats arabes unis (EAU) depuis les années 1990. Il cherche à évaluer la prégnance du rôle des déterminants extérieurs et intérieurs dans l’élaboration des stratégies de ces deux petits Etats du Golfe et s’interroge sur la raison pour laquelle, confrontés à des défis en apparence assez similaires, ils ont adopté des stratégies différentes. Tandis que le Qatar a privilégié son rayonnement diplomatique et peu ou prou délégué sa sécurité à ses partenaires extérieurs, les EAU ont quant à eux organisé leur doctrine militaire autour de la consolidation de leurs outils de sécurité et de défense intérieurs tout en veillant à rayonner sur la scène régionale et internationale par divers canaux souvent identiques à ceux choisis par leurs voisins qataris. La thèse montre que les mutations du contexte régional doivent être articulées avec celles du contexte international pour comprendre les dynamiques communes aux politiques de défense et aux acquisitions militaires du Qatar et des EAU. Puis, elle montre que ces déterminants structurels doivent être articulés avec des variables intervenant au niveau national (territoire, démographie) et infranational (perception et réseaux du Prince) pour comprendre les contrastes entre leurs politiques. Pour finir, la thèse interroge la pérennité de l’économie et de la sociologie politique de ces « petits Etats-Princes » en les confrontant à des reconfigurations endogènes et exogènes susceptibles de les faire évoluer. / This thesis studies the evolving defence policies and military acquisitions of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the 1990s onwards. It seeks to assess the role of external and domestic incentives in shaping the survival strategies of these two small Gulf states and to understand why, while they were confronted with apparently similar challenges, they adopted different strategies. While Qatar has favoured its diplomatic influence and essentially guaranteed its security through its partnerships with external powers, the UAE have consolidated their internal security and defence tools while gaining regional and international influence through various channels which often were the same as those chosen by Qatari leaders. The thesis shows that the mutations of the regional context must be articulated with those of the international context to understand the common dynamics in Qatar’s and the UAE’s defence policies and military acquisitions. It then shows that these structural determinants must be articulated with variables at national (territory, demography) and subnational (the Prince’s perception and networks) levels to understand the contrasts between their policies. Finally, the thesis questions the sustainability of the political economy and political sociology of these “small Princes-states” by confronting them to endogenous and exogenous developments which are likely to make them evolve.