Oman

by Valeri, Marc

• ISBN13: 9780231700887
• ISBN10: 0231700881
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-06-30
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

With the help of British advisors, Sultan Qaboos overthrew his father, the ruler of Oman, in 1970, yet few expected the new leader to thrive. Sultan Qaboos was an unfamiliar figure to his own people, and Oman was a poor country wracked by multiple civil wars. Nevertheless, Sultan Qaboos cemented his rule by introducing a policy of national unification and assimilating all of Oman into an oil rentier state framework. He also promoted the idea that the figure of the sultan could embody the state, which later led to a celebration of the sultan as an incarnation of Oman's "renaissance."Based on years of research, Marc Valeri treats the political career of Sultan Qaboos as a case study revealing the social and political mechanisms of authoritarianism in postcolonial states. Valeri examines how Sultan Qaboos established and constantly renewed his base in order to meet internal and external challenges to his power. He also considers what happens when one part of this model, namely an oil-rent economy, falters, and the privileges enjoyed by half the population are no longer tenable.In particular, Valeri addresses the creation of a different model and how this pursuit depends as much on the network of power and privilege that has developed alongside polity as on the interference of economic and technological forces. At the same time, different and overlapping identities-ethnic, religious, historical, or a combination thereof-persist and in some cases reemerge, intertwining with challenges to wider state- and nation-building exercises and to the regime's legitimizing strategies. In conclusion, Valeri expands his focus beyond the state of Oman, evaluating the practices of other Arab monarchies in Morocco, Jordan, and the Persian Gulf.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Foundations of the modern state	p. 7
The primary political role of Ibadism	p. 9
Tribes and tribal confederations	p. 13
The demographic legacy of the Omani maritime empire	p. 19
The 'pax Britannica'	p. 24
Two legitimacies and no state	p. 35
The break with the principle of the Sultan as primus inter pares	p. 35
A new economic order	p. 40
The Imamate: the myth of 'traditional democracy'	p. 44
The founding conflicts of the modern national identity	p. 51
The end of the Imamate (1955-59)	p. 51
The Dhofar war (1965-75)	p. 58
The 1960s: the decade of remoteness	p. 64
Legitimisation by the welfare state	p. 71
Oil as fuel of the 'development war'	p. 72
Building a new framework of collective references	p. 73
The state as a driving force in economic development	p. 84
Consolidation of business positions inherited from the twentieth century	p. 101
National identity building	p. 119
The standardisation of cultural references	p. 120
The historical legacy at the heart of the new national identity	p. 130
The staged national heritage	p. 140
The reinvented political tradition	p. 149
The encapsulation of local legitimacies into the state	p. 150
The Council of Oman (Majlis 'Uman)	p. 159
A sultanistic regime?	p. 171
Laborious renewal of the basis of the regime	p. 183
The ambiguities of the political opening up	p. 184
Nationalisation of employment (ta 'min)	p. 201
What substitutes for oil?	p. 213
National identity challenged?	p. 225
Deepening cleavages	p. 226
In quest of more state	p. 234
Modern 'asabiyyat	p. 241
Conclusion	p. 251
Select Bibliography	p. 261
Index	p. 269
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