ABSTRACT
Examples exist throughout the modern history of northern Yemen that demonstrate how competing polities were consistently able to secure autonomy in the face of external administrative efforts to infiltrate their spheres of influence. In order to protect their immediate interests, these temporary communities demonstrated a willingness to clash with long-assumed regional leaders, be they the Zaydī Imām, their local allies or the current President of the Republic of Yemen. As a result, those with trans-regional ambitions such as Imāms or state governors were constantly forced to acknowledge the autonomy of these local polities as well as invest considerable amounts of social, political and economic capital in the attempt to forge a mutually beneficial alliance.
