In the foreword to the Qatar National Vision 2030, the “knowledge economy” is depicted as an “authentic” key to human, economic, environmental and social development that has “emerged from intensive consultation across Qatari society. It is based on the guiding principles of Qatar's Permanent Constitution. It reflects the aspirations of the Qatari people and the resolve of their political leadership” to transforming themselves. This claim to authenticity informs the title of this chapter. It raises questions of meaning for the statesociety dynamic, as the former aspires to diversification and gender inclusivity. In the Qatar National Vision's articulation of its goals of “charting economic and social progress in modern societies,” and by invoking the language of nationalization, Qatar, like other Gulf monarchies, strives to shift perceptions vis-a-vis expatriate labor, sustainability, security, and self-fashioning through “nation branding in late modernity.’ As a vehicle for constructing new citizen identities in a world ridden with competitiveness over resources, higher education and citizenship are inseparable from concerns over reliance on expatriates. It is reductive to conclude that Gulf nationals merely resent foreigners sharing in the “wealth of their nations;” such reliance on foreigners is often met with mixed responses. Pursuing modernity and progress through the knowledge economy as a major objective of nationalization begs the question as to what strategies or adaptive preferences should be adopted by Gulf societies to mediate between authenticity and modernity. This is particularly important in a section of the Qatar document addressing what being an educated population means overall:

The document proceeds by listing several key ‘human development outcomes’ expected to accrue from higher education and preparedness of citizens in the labor markets through increased diversification cognizant of the important role of women's participation at the highest levels of economic and political leadership.