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This thesis analyses the external and internal influences on the process of state formation in Oman since 1920 and places this process in comparative perspective with the other states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It considers the extent to which the concepts of informal empire and collaboration are useful in analysing the relationship between Oman, Britain and the United States. The theoretical framework is the historical materialist paradigm of International Relations. State formation in Oman since 1920 is examined in a historical narrative structured by three themes: (1) the international context of Western involvement, (2) the development of Western strategic interests in Oman and (3) their economic, social and political impact on Oman. The incorporation of the Arabian littoral into the security sphere of the British empire in India separated the Imamate in the mountainous interior of Oman from the British-backed Sultans in Muscat. This culminated in the Treaty of Sib in 1920 following which the government of the Sultanate was restructured by British officials. The discovery of oil in Bahrain in 1932 marked a new phase in the incorporation of the Arabian peninsula into the capitalist world-system. In south-east Arabia this led to the occupation of the interior in 1955 by the British-supported forces of Sa'id bin Taimur. The coup of 1970 in which Qabus became Sultan allowed the development of a pro-Western rentier state and the defeat of the rebels in Dhofar. British imperial withdrawal from the region was completed with the relinquishment of its bases in the Sultanate of Oman in 1977. The development of a strategic relationship between Oman and the United States in the 1980s enhanced American military deployment during the Kuwait crisis of 1990-1991. In the aftermath of this conflict Oman faces the challenge of political development in an environment of diminishing oil reserves.

This research undertakes a critical evaluation and analysis of the leadership style at higher education institutions in Oman and determines whether the direction it takes is in strict conformity with creating an enabling environment there. To address this, Saxena’s framework on creating an enabling environment in higher education is used as a foundation, along with the theoretical concepts of transformational leadership to explore the role of heads of higher education institutions in creating an enabling environment. Hence, the major question examined in this thesis is: “To what extent do presidents and deans create an enabling environment and act as transformational leaders at private higher education institutions in Oman?”<br/><br/>The research employed a mixed method design in which data were collected through a combination of semi-structured interviews with presidents, deans, officials, and recent graduates. A survey of lecturers, full-time employees, and students was also undertaken to seek their views. The target sample in the main research was drawn from six private universities and colleges and selected public Ministries.<br/><br/>In line with the theoretical structure, the findings of the research show the higher education environment in Oman to be an area of concern. The findings highlight four gaps, which also fall in line with the four components introduced by Saxena. The first gap is between the higher education institutions and industry; the second gap relates to empowerment among staff, management, governance and authorities; the third gap is between physical environment and facilities; and the fourth gap is between research and teaching. The findings recommend a leadership framework to provide necessary guidelines for creating an enabling environment.<br/><br/>The research opens avenues for upcoming researchers who would add more to the previously achieved goals so that the sustenance offered by lifelong learning may also be perpetuated in the years to come.

The rapid economic and social development in the Sultanate of Oman has led to an increasing demand for higher education since 1970. The Government is now involved, and is encouraging the private sector to provide higher education services through colleges and universities in order to prepare Omanis with the qualifications and skills required to support the country`s future political economic development.<br/>Higher education in the Sultanate of Oman has a range of different challenges, such as educational policies and regulations, the management of universities and colleges, funding, and maintaining quality standards in higher education institutions.<br/>One of the major challenges facing the decision makers in higher education in Oman is the effectiveness of the leadership of colleges and universities. Strong academic leadership is paramount to the effective running of educational institutions, and a professional measurement is needed to analyse the current management of these institutions. There is the need for a proper policy to ensure the recruitment of suitable leaders to run these establishments in order to respond to the dynamic changes within the society.<br/>The public and the government want to maintain a balanced situation where the private higher education institutions are enjoying a good income while providing quality education.<br/>The research aims to analyse the type of leadership required in higher education in Oman by examining government policies and strategies related to higher education. More specifically, it will evaluate the performance of leadership at the level of presidents and deans and their roles in selected private higher education institutions. By doing so, different leadership theories, perceptions of leadership and possible measures for assessing the effectiveness of leadership will be interpreted and analysed.<br/>This research is inductive based on a qualitative and exploratory approach. The findings have contributed to the development of an academic leadership model applicable to the Oman higher education institutions, and have generated some recommendations to develop the performance of presidents and deans of higher education institutions to attain the level which is acceptable to the Government and Omani society.

The purpose of this study is to sample a number of disparate texts from the early Islamic cultural field to explore the shared grounds or themes that bind them together. The focus of the sampled texts and their analysis is the different relations between God and the real things of this world. The method that is applied in the selection of the texts of this research relies on Pierre Bourdieu’s approach to the study of cultural production. It assumes a relational and dynamic intellectual field which creates interlinked differences and similarities. This is the reason for sampling texts which are assumed to be reasonably marginal to the main cultural establishment. The kalām of the early stage, exemplified by the texts of the Zaydī al-Qāsim al-Rassī and the eastern Ibādīs, is found to emphasise the radical separation between the creator and the created. The development of this relation, which is explored through an intertextual reading of Qurʾānic exegesis, bridges the fissure, between creator and created, through the process of re-interpreting the terms of creation. The act of creation itself becomes an act of transformation, and the objects of creation become eternal ‘non-existent things’ that acquire the quality of existence. In the philosophical works of Jābir Ibn Ḥayyān, the things of this world are also reduced to transformations within the one substance that encompasses the intelligible and the material world. The results of this research show that there is a great degree of diffusion of ideas in this early stage of Islamic culture, from an assumed centre to the margins, and vice versa. The general tendencies in the texts considered reflect, on the one hand, a critique of multiplicity of principles, particularly dualism, and an emphasis on God’s unity, through different interpretations of tawḥīd. On the other hand, the sought unity itself established God’s radical transcendence from the real world, thus leading to another form of dualism dividing the world and the absolute other. The process of opposition to dualism seems to have eventually produced two forms of affirming and defining unity. Both forms define the existent things in terms of substance (jawhar), however, the kalām model expresses it in atomistic terms whilst the alchemical model of Jābir expresses it in terms of a hylomorphic model. One of these redefines the meanings of the existent and the non-existent things in term of subsistence, and the other, develops the idea of a single substance with different gradation in being.