English abstract
Among the conflict-ridden Middle Eastern region where clashes happen to take place from all directions lies a little 'oasis of tranquility and peace.' This oasis is the Sultanate of Oman, which manages to maintain its stability nationally, regionally, and internationally. Reasons for this stability is the personality of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Sultan of Oman, who has a solid stance on neutrality, coexistence, and hence peace, both inside and outside the Sultanate. Furthermore, because the Sultan is "Father Qaboos," he has passed on this trait to his people, where Omanis by nature and culture became very peaceful and harmonic. In addition to this trait rests the God-given gratitude, as well as patience, within the Omani citizens. This of course, comes along with the offers and provisions that have been granted to the Omani people. These include the basic needs and necessities such as human rights, education, healthcare, the support on basic commodities, and freedom. All these factors are maintained and sustained via the flourishing economic conditions in Oman as it enjoys—or actually enjoyed—being one of the major oil-exporters in the world, which made the country depend its economy on oil, at about 85% of it. Nevertheless, the current low oil prices that affected many economies has shown a large disruption in that of Oman. This tremble in the Omani economy due to the low oil prices consequently resulted in the inability of the Government to provide for these basic necessities at the same standard due to the vast decrease of Government budget along with an increase in Government debt. This research will identify the main factors that are affected as a result of the low oil prices, which are, as we can say, the impacts of the current low oil prices. The researcher will touch on several social indicators and factors, but will focus and shed light on education and human development, as they are the catalysts for the main end product, which is development, something that all citizens are undoubtedly seeking. Also, with a growing youth population, given the affected living standards and declining employment opportunities due to the current low oil prices, political stability is threatened in the Sultanate. This research will reveal the cases that would eventually trigger political instability in the country due to social resentment and disappointment as a result of the impacts of the current low oil prices on the Sultanate.
