At the core of this book is an attempt to explain a conflict in Oman in
the 1950s and 1960s between two claimants to authority: the Imam of the
Ibadi sect in the interior and the Sultan with his capital at Muscat on
the coast. The crisis, precipitated by two rival oil companies, acquired
wider dimensions because the Sultan was supported by the British, whilst
the Imam was eventually backed by Saudi Arabia. In his analysis of the
roots of this conflict John Wilkinson traces the themes of regional
identity, tribal organization and political authority over some 1200
years of history in south-eastern Arabia. The constitution of the
Imamate has periodically unified the tribes of central Oman into a form
of statehood capable of creating an overseas empire. But in spite of the
accruing wealth, notably from Eastern Africa in the nineteenth century,
the institutions necessary for permanent government were never created.