ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the extent to which the Muslim Brotherhood can employ Islam as a societal and political unifier to transcend tribal ties and powerful competing regional pressures in a weak and failing state. It also examines the extent to which parliamentary participation for the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates in Yemen have presented the opportunities for power rather than co-optation and what lies ahead for the Muslim Brotherhood's Islah squeezed by the dual forces of Houthi political control and a Saudi military campaign to oust them. The Islah party in Yemen, like some of its counterparts in the Muslim Brotherhood across the Arab world, enjoys a history where it has been both in opposition and co-opted by a ruling regime into temporary governance pacts. The unification of North and South Yemen in May 1990 created an opportunity for a new pan-Yemen political party.
