Oman foreign policy towards the Arab Spring in the framework of strategic hedging

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi, SOSYAL BİLİMLER ENSTİTÜSÜ, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2020

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: Shahrazad Ali Abdel Rahman Alkhazaleh

Danışman: FERHAT PİRİNÇÇİ

Özet:

At the outbreak of Arab Spring Uprisings, regional and small powers have more or less involved in the events either siding with or against new rising political regimes and movements. Consequently, counterrevolutions and sectarianism have manifested across the region. As each has engaged, Oman remained a notable exception and an interesting case to researchers of foreign policy. This thesis seeks to address the underlying factors and determinants of Omani foreign policy behaviour during the Arab Spring. For that, the thesis uses ‘Strategic Hedging’ as an alternative approach to explaining the foreign policy behaviour of small states where Oman is a case in point. Also, the determining factors shaping Oman's foreign policy will be examined. This study also provides an analysis of Oman's position towards the Arab spring by choosing three case studies (Egypt, Syria, and Yemen) then comparing Oman and other Gulf states' position towards those cases. Lastly, Oman's stance on the Gulf crisis will be analysed with the Strategic Hedging identification mechanism. This study concludes that Oman position towards the Gulf crisis is a successful Strategic Hedging behavior because Oman was able to avoid confrontation with other powers while maximizing its Interests.