Publication

This paper analyzes developments of the Yemeni state in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. It argues that the Yemeni state's apparent fragility should not be understood merely as the product of a fragmented tribal population living in poverty. The country's politics, before and after the reunification of north and south in 1990, have been dominated by elite factions manipulating shifting groups of clients based on tribal or sectarian loyalties. While political transition and the accompanying Gulf Initiative are welcome, they are likely to generate further pressures towards secession and armed rebellion unless they address the deep structural sources of state weakness.