Oman : National Challenges and Regional Issues in the Post-Sultan Era"

This Research paper outlines the main national and international issues at stake with the potential succession of Sultan Qaboos, whose health began to decline in 2014. He will be difficult to replace due to his status as the Father of the Nation who brought the country out of the feudal era. He modernized the state and gave it a diplomatic role as a mediator which has become extremely valuable in a region constantly on the brink of tensions and conflicts. In the short term, his successor will be faced with a difficult task due to falling oil prices affecting the economy. In the medium term, the challenge will be to revive a social contract that is running out of steam. However Oman’s diplomatic role as a mediator in the region and an intermediary between Washington and Tehran, along with its strategic positon at a crossroads on the Silk Road play in the country’s favour in getting regional and global players to support the post-Qaboos Sultanate.