Elisabeth II’s and Qaboos bin Said’s Leadership

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Table of Contents

Background
Comparison of Risk Management Strategies
Conclusion
References

In the contemporary world of diplomacy, leadership style is the most important feature of any political figure. Elizabeth II is the longest-reigning monarch of Britain, whereas Sultan Qaboos bin Said is the longest-serving ruler of the Arab world. Both of these figures have a history of outstanding leadership behind them, which had a positive impact on their countries, as well as on the global political climate.

Background

Elizabeth Alexandra May was born on April 21, 1926, to the family of Duke and Duchess of York, future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, also known as the Queen Mother. Elizabeth was their first daughter and therefore became the heiress presumptive, eventually ascending the throne at the age of 25 after her father died on 6 February 1952. Throughout her childhood years, Elizabeth was involved in the matters of the Royal family. She delivered her first official speech at the age of 14 as she spoke on the BBC’s Children’s Hour radio program, addressing children who had to be evacuated because of the war (Global News, 2012).

During the war, Elizabeth became a qualified driver and mechanic to drive a military truck, reaching the rank of Junior Commander by the end of her service (Global News, 2012). She frequently participated in tours across the territories of the British Empire. Her involvement with the royal duties increased when her father became ill and was unable to travel; it is primarily due to her strong positive image and prior experience as the representative of the British monarchy that the public welcomed her on the throne. Due to the context of her ruling and the changes that took place in the British Empire after she ascended the throne, she practiced a situational leadership model.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, too, is a descendant of a ruling dynasty. He was born on November 18, 1940, into the family of the current Oman ruler Sultan Said bin Taimur (His Majesty Personal Website, n.d.). The future Sultan was brought up in the city of Salalah and graduated from Britain’s Sandhurst military academy in September 1962 (Kaplan, 2011). He also served on an operational tour of duty with the British army in Germany (Oxford Reference, 2017). Once he returned to Oman after completing his studies and service, he was kept in the city of Salalah by his domineering father, who aimed to keep Oman “an isolated and economically backward society, in which slavery was still common, and oil revenues were spent exclusively on defense” (Oxford Reference, 2017, para. 2). Meanwhile, Qaboos saw the failures of the contemporary government and wanted to change Oman, making it more modernized and structured, which led to him deposing his father in a coup and ascending the throne in 1970 with the military help of Britain, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Emirates, as well as the general approval of Oman’s public (Oxford Reference, 2017).

He has been the absolute roller of Oman ever since, which resulted in a major transformation of the country: “A highly-skilled change leader, Sultan Qaboos spearheaded his country’s development, successfully combining Oman’s great history and heritage with modern methods, tools and technology” (His Majesty Personal Website, n.d., para. 4). As his ruling was associated with a significant change process, his leadership model is both transformational and participative: even though he had a strong outlook for the country’s future, he was also active in dealing with current affairs that involved the people of Oman – for instance, during the Arab Spring.

Comparison of Risk Management Strategies

Family and Heirs

The British Royal family represents a large unified community of public figures. Although many of its members are not heirs to the British throne, they are still popular among the people and are needed to maintain a strong public image of the country. Thus, upon ascending the throne, Elizabeth II became not just the leader of the country, but also the head of the British monarchy. She understood the potential risks posed by a negative public image; therefore, throughout her ruling, she was highly devoted to preserving the public’s interest in the family, which is why she was holding frequent tours to the territories of the Commonwealth and the remaining parts of the British Empire and encouraged the family to do so: for example, Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton both show active participation with their royal duties by undertaking diplomatic visits and tours all over the world.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, on the other hand, was the only child in the royal family, having no siblings to represent the dynasty. One of the greatest risks related to Oman’s monarchy today is the fact that the Sultan has no heirs and thus it is unclear as to who will take the throne after him. Nevertheless, Qaboos addressed the risk effectively by setting up provisions for the future ruler: as Tennent (2015) explains, “In the event of Qaboos’s death, the royal council will have three days to select the new Sultan. If a decision is not made in that period, Qaboos has set up his contingency plan: letters containing the name of his personal choice for the throne” (para. 5).

Relationships with the Public

Despite her efforts to preserve a strong image of the Royal family, there were still some issues that threatened the Queen’s relationship with the British people, which could pose major risks for the entire country had they turned into widespread public disapproval. For example, when Princess Diana died in a car accident in Paris in 1997, the Queen did not join the mourning, remaining on her public tour in Scotland (Callick, 2015). This caused a major outcry among the people, as they expected a different reaction to the death of the Princess (Callick, 2015). Being a strong situational leader, however, she did not respond to the public at first; instead, she has kept her reserve throughout the mourning, which helped to alleviate the conflict in the long run: once the family and the public recovered from the tragedy, she was praised for keeping her long-standing image of a calm and persistent ruler (Callick, 2015).

Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s relationship with the public is one of the most distinctive features of his leadership style. Despite being the sole leader of the country, he has demonstrated unusual flexibility to deal with individual events and the demands of his people. One of the most prominent examples of his situational management was during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. The uprising has reached Oman early in the year, even though it was arguably the least autocratic and oppressive country of the Arab world (Kaplan, 2011). Neubauer (n.d.) agrees that the people of Oman had few reasons to be upset: “According to a 2010 United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report, examining overall progress made in 135 countries over the past 40 years, Oman ranks first in health, education, and income followed by oil-rich Saudi Arabia as number five” (para. 1).

Among the primary complaints of the people was the lack of jobs and corruption (Worrall, 2012). Realizing the political risk held by the protests, the Sultan reacted by engaging with the public’s demands and taking corrective measures as required, for instance, by promising to provide an extra 55,000 jobs and a rise in unemployment benefit (Worrall, 2012), as well as by firing 12 cabinet ministers accused of corruption and increasing the minimum wage by a full 40 percent (Neubauer, n.d.). Such a response appeased the public quickly, and there were no long-term repercussions of the protests. Moreover, Qaboos showed his participative leadership model by interacting with the protesters to agree on the terms and directions of reforms: “This active engagement, alongside the concessions and the overwhelming support for the sultan himself, marked the Oman Spring as rather different from uprisings elsewhere” (Worrall, 2012, para. 30).

Foreign Policy

One of the major challenges that Elizabeth II faced as she ascended to the throne was the deterioration of the British Empire: in the 1950s-1960s, many of the British colonial territories declared their independence, and some, such as Australia, planned to do so in the next few years. The struggle bellmen Britain and other countries, as well as the negative image of imperialism, posed a great risk to the country, as it created opportunities for military and political conflicts. The Queen followed her situational leadership style by moving away from the imperial model or foreign policy to that of cooperation: “She has devoted considerable energy to re-creating the empire as the egalitarian if sometimes directionless Commonwealth, an organization of 53 nations to which she remains especially devoted” (Callick, 2015, para. 33).

She also managed to preserve her power as the head of state in some of the countries, including Canada and New Zealand (Callick, 2015). Moreover, the Queen has also prevented the separation of Australia by undertaking regular trips to the country, thus enhancing the public’s approval of British monarchy: she was the first monarch to set foot on Australian soil, and each one of her 16 visits to the country is remembered with fondness by her supporters (SBS, 2015).

The overall disapproval of the British reign remained in the public; nevertheless, the country decided to stay under the Queen’s rule and not declare its independence until another monarch comes to power (SBS, 2015). Another foreign policy risk identified and targeted by the Queen was the Irish Civil War and the overall tension between Britain and Ireland in the 20th century. Despite the long history of hostility between the countries, which started with the Norman invasion in the late 12th Century (Stamp, 2014), the Queen has managed to stabilize the relationship between the countries. One of the most prominent events, in this case, was her visit to the national garden of remembrance, devoted to the Irish people who died fighting for independence from Britain, in 2011 (Bates & McDonald, 2011). Given the fact that the strained relationship affected the royal family directly – Lord Mountbatten, the Queen’s cousin, and his grandson were killed by an IRA bomb in 1979 (BBC, n.d.) – the show of respect was met with a wave of approval from the Irish people and helped to decrease the political and social tension (Bates & McDonald, 2011).

Similarly, Sultan Qaboos bin Said was devoted to managing foreign policy risks right from the start of his political career. One of his greatest achievements was to end Oman’s isolation from the rest of the world (His Majesty Personal Website, n.d.). He increased the country’s cooperation with Britain and became “a long-standing friend of the west” (Whitaker 2011, para. 2). He was also successful in addressing the military risk from the countries of Israel, Palestine, Iran, and the U.S., which was primarily due to his participative approach: “he may arguably be the most worldly and best-informed leader in the Arab world, who understands in depth both the Israeli and Palestinian points of view even as he balances Americans off against Iranians and provides U.S. forces with access agreements” (Kaplan 2011, para. 3).

Conclusion

Overall, both leaders demonstrate risk management and leadership models that are appropriate to the current state of their countries. Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s approach is more autocratic, which is justified by the fact that he is one of the few absolute monarchs left in the world; nevertheless, he shows engagement and participation in the public’s affairs when necessary, which helps to address the possible domestic policy risks. His experienced rule has brought the country to development and prosperity. The function of Elizabeth II, on the other hand, is primarily focused on maintaining a healthy relationship between the British government and the people all around the world, which is why her approach to leadership and risk management was entirely situational. She managed to tailor her responses to the contemporary political and social affairs, as well as to promote a good image of the royal family all over the world. Thus, the two figures show how thoroughly different leadership schemes may show the same effectiveness in different settings.

References

Bates, S., & McDonald, H. (2011). Irish eyes are smiling: Show of respect turns Queen into runaway favorite. The Guardian. Web.

BBC. (n.d.). 1979: IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten. BBC News on this Day – 27 August. Web.

Callick, R. (2015). Queen Elizabeth II: Long to reign over us. The Weekend Australian. Web.

Global News. (2012). Timeline: Queen Elizabeth II. The Royals. Web.

His Majesty Personal Website. (n.d.). Brief biography of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. Web.

Kaplan, R. D. (2011). Oman’s renaissance man. Foreign Policy. Web.

Neubauer, S. (n.d.). How the Arab Spring skirted Oman. The World Post. Web.

Oxford Reference. (2017). Qaboos bin Said Al-Said. Web.

SBS. (2015). Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest-reigning British – And Australian – Monarch. SBS News. Web.

Stamp, G. (2014). Neighbours across the sea: A brief history of Anglo-Irish relations. BBC News. Web.

Tennent, J. (2015). Who will take over from Sultan Qaboos, Arab world’s longest-serving ruler?International Business Times. Web.

Whitaker, B. (2011). Oman’s Sultan Qaboos: A classy despot. The Guardian. Web.

Worrall, J. (2012). Oman: The “forgotten” corner of the Arab Spring. Middle East Policy Council, 19(3). 98-115. Web.

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