Khalid Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi

Khalid Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi is a nonresident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. He is a diplomat and academic specializing in international relations, with a particular focus on small states studies. Since 2016, he has served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar in various capacities. He is also a senior expert at the Center for International Policy Research.

Previously, Al-Khulaifi was a lecturer at Qatar University, where he developed and taught courses in International Relations, Gulf Studies, Security, and International Law.

Al-Khulaifi is the author of The Smart Power of Small States: An In-Depth Study of Qatar (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), which analyzes the utilization of smart power strategy by small states. He has also contributed to academic and policy discussions through participation in international conferences and forums, presenting and publishing work related to his areas of specialization.

He holds a PhD in International Relations and Political Science from the Australian National University, where his research focused on the strategic role of small states and the use of smart power.