ABSTRACT
The effects of development have been least noticeable in the tribal areas of the north, thus altering the traditional system there the least. Pressures for local development, raised by increasing numbers of tribesmen returning from employment in Saudi Arabia, have been answered locally in part through self-reliance on Local Development Associations (LDAs), many of which received their original impetus from the shaykhs. This ability to maintain position by adding new roles has been enhanced by the shaykh's 'inside' standing vis-a-vis the government and thus his self-proclaimed power in San'a'. Even though the role of the shaykh does not seem to be viable far into the future, one need only look at the importance of paramount shaykhs on the national political scene at the beginning of the 1980s to realise that they play an influential part in Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) politics for some time to come.
