ABSTRACT

Chapter 5 traces the dynamics and evolution of contentious politics in Yemen since 2011. The peripheral country of the Arabian Peninsula has often been perceived through the lens of terrorism, conjuring up images of poverty, unruly tribes, and a traditional society whose members are preoccupied mostly with chewing the mildly stimulant qat leaves. When the first protests were organized in Sana’a in January 2011 at the start of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’, President Ali Abdullah Saleh dismissed the idea of a revolution, calmly stating that ‘Yemen is not Tunisia’. Many observers seemed to believe this too, arguing that Yemen’s population – highly divided, largely rural, illiterate, and lacking access to the Internet – could not be compared to more ‘modern’ nation-states like Tunisia, Syria, or Egypt, and thus mobilization for radical change was unlikely to happen. Against the narrative of Yemen’s exceptionalism, and in line with the theoretical framework of this book, this chapter examines Yemen’s popular uprising and scrutinizes the mechanisms of violence radicalization that were put in motion as what began as civil resistance turned into civil war. In so doing, it tells a story of how a popular democratization project that united divergent actors with the common goal of toppling the regime was gradually hijacked by warring elite factions and self-interested regional powers. The chapter reveals how, among other things, economic destitution, social fragmentation, and sectarian identifications have been exploited by entrepreneurs of violence, tearing Yemeni society apart and further fuelling the conflict.