Affirmation of the Vision: Qaboos and Oman

This chapter measures the transition between Qaboos and Haitham. It delves into four key areas, democratization and political stability, nation-building and political legitimacy since 1970, Qaboos and nation-building in Oman, and Qaboos and the Omani Identity. By closing with an overall appraisal of Oman and the Sultan, the study purports to determine what kind of a monarchy the Sultanate became between 1970 and 2020, how it was reinvented by Qaboos, and into what it evolved as a key GCC member-state. The chapter closes with an examination of the succession dilemma for the Al Sa‘id, a subject that preoccupied many for decades, as most were surprised by the smooth transition to Sultan Haitham bin Tariq.