Oman - Under the Desert Sun in Arabia Felix

In contrast with its neighbors, the Sultanate of Oman is an oasis of peace and political stability.  There is little of the extreme tribalism of Somalia or the murderous religious and tribal differences of nearby Yemen, which have put those two countries in a perpetual state of civil war and made them ungovernable for decades.

For a generation or more, Oman has pursued infrastructure development, education and suppression of corruption along with a policy of close alignment with the west, first with the United Kingdom and later with the United States, keeping the country moving forward in social progress and economic development.

No one would call Oman a model democracy as the Sultan holds almost all political power in the country; but it has been well-governed, certainly much better than its neighbors and has successfully transitioned from a medieval country at the end of WWII to a modern country only seventy years later.