Oman government

Oman is an Arab country located in the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It has a population of 4,424,762 people and its capital city is Muscat. The government system in Oman is a unitary absolute monarchy under Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said who has been ruling since 1970.

The government’s legislative power lies with both the ruler (Sultan) and Majlis ash-Shura (Consultative Assembly). The executive branch consists of several councils which are responsible for handling various areas such as defense, foreign affairs or finance. These councils are chaired by members appointed directly by the Sultan from among his advisors or ministers chosen from within his cabinet and approved by him before taking office.[1]

Since 1996 there have been some attempts to introduce democracy into Omani politics through reforms initiated by Sultan Qaboos himself but so far they have taken limited forms only; e.g., allowing citizens to vote on municipal elections over two decades ago[2]. Nonetheless these measures were seen as groundbreaking steps towards democratization at that time when other countries in region remained immune to change.[3][4] In 2011 new laws were passed which allowed women more political participation rights including voting rights while also introducing restrictions against discrimination based on gender or religion [5]. Additionally there was an increase in spending on health care services during this period[6], making it free for those up to 18 years old . This led numerous international observers praising sultan’s efforts towards modernization and progressiveness despite initial skepticism about their effectiveness due mainly because all decisions still remain centralized around one figure -the ruler- rather than being shared between different branches like what happens normally within democratic systems.[7][8]

Overall, even though certain improvements can be observed throughout recent decades especially concerning personal freedoms and human rights issues, most aspects of governing processes remain unchanged compared before: traditionally rule remains centralized around one person instead sharing decision making powers across multiple entities like legislatures & executives , thus leading many analysts considering it more similar authoritarian regime rather than full fledged democracy yet.[9][10]