ABSTRACT
The twentieth century has largely been a time of isolation for Oman. On the political level, only Britain maintained resident Consuls in Muscat between 1915 and 1970. Oman has only recently begun to emerge from the cocoon spun around it by its European mentors, a state of affairs that was largely accepted by its rulers and inevitable given the historical circumstances. Within a few years, Oman had fully entered the international arena and was on friendly terms with all but a few of her fellow Arab states. Particularly in Oman, the Government of India was forced to interrupt a centuries-old process of cyclical regeneration of politico-religious power in order to protect its relationship with the Āl Bū Sa'īd dynasty. The Anglo-Omani relationship was altered dramatically by the beginning of the 1970s as Oman took steps to expand its role in the international arena. Iran's troops in Dhufar were kept rigidly isolated from politics and from even casual contact with Omanis.
