Omani Renaissance in International Relations and Political Economy

In the last century, though the Sultanate of Oman was seen as an undeveloped country in terms of economics, politics, international relations, and socio-cultural relations, actually, it had been one of the most developed countries in the Middle East previously. Perhaps, because of the existence of historical state experience in her DNAs, and His Majesty Sultan Qaboos’ rational governance, Oman has developed and evolved visibly and started to compete with modern countries in the last fifty years. Today, Oman became the most democratic country among the Arabic Gulf countries, top-10 in the university graduation ratio in the world, top-8 in health development according to the WHO, and the safest country for the expatriates in the world. Oman had established a maritime empire in the 17th-19th centuries, but later it started to lose power by the British arrival to the region; then it started to follow isolationist policies in international relations because of new circumstances. After Sultan Qaboos came in power in 1970, first economic and transport, later socio-cultural and democratic developments brought Oman prominence in the Gulf. He pursued wise and balanced foreign affairs among its neighbors in the Gulf, Iran, and the West, and then started to be mediator and backchannel in the region reciprocally. This article shows how Oman succeeded a renaissance in society, politics, economics and international relations.