ABSTRACT
The Republic of Yemen (ROY), in an ancient and historic land, is the most recent state to appear in the Middle East, with the contemporary state emerging in 1990 with the fusion of the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR—North Yemen) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY-South Yemen). Yemen occupies the general area of classical Arabia Felix, the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula. The PDRY was the poorest Middle East country and, as a radical client of the former Soviet Union, was virtually a pariah state in the region; the YAR to the north was the secondpoorest country and was ambivalent in its East-West relations. In 2012, the new ROY government estimated that it needed $11 billion in external assistance to help it through the transition period under way. Donors recognized the immediacy of the country's needs but were also wary of moving too quickly and overwhelming Yemen's ability to process the funds and implement planned projects.
