ABSTRACT
The new leaders were faced with the problem of reconstituting the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen's (PDRY) infrastructure, which had been damaged in the civil war. The civil war resulted in different kinds of problems for the PDRY, which the new leadership had to face and which seemed to cast a shadow over the process of its consolidation. The Marxist regime that had governed the PDRY since 1967 strove to attenuate tribal and geopolitical factors in South Yemeni politics, mainly by ignoring their existence and augmenting the role of ideology as the main motivating force in political participation. In interviews with Arab papers, PDRY leaders focused mostly on 'Ali Nasir's deeds and tried to play down the effects of shock in the South Yemeni society and economy after the civil war. The tendency of the new leaders to avoid a drastic radicalizaron of PDRY policies and to portray a moderate and reasonable image was particularly evident in foreign affairs.
