Contents

Editor’s Note

Introduction

1: The Arabian Peninsula, 1958–85

The Gulf between Two Revolutions, 1958–79

Fred Halliday

Insurrection at Mecca

Jim Paul

Prospects for the Gulf

Joe Stork

2: Cold War and Unification in Two Yemens

North Yemen Today

Fred Halliday

Catastrophe in South Yemen: A Preliminary Assessment

Fred Halliday

A Tale of Two Families: Change in North Yemen, 1977–89

Sheila Carapico and Cynthia Myntti

The Economic Dimension of Yemeni Unity

Sheila Carapico

3: Yemen After Unification: Elections and Civil War

Yemen: Unification and the Gulf War

Sheila Carapico

Yemeni Workers Come Home: Reabsorbing One Million Migrants

Thomas Stevenson

Elections and Mass Politics

Sheila Carapico

The Yemeni Elections Up Close

Renaud Detalle

From Ballot Box to Battlefield: The War of the Two ‘Alis

Sheila Carapico

4: Modern Political Islam in the Arabian Peninsula

Islam and the Theology of Power: Wahhabism and Salafism

Khaled Abou El Fadl

A Clash of Fundamentalisms: Wahhabism in Yemen

Shelagh Weir

Yemen and the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army

Sheila Carapico

Understanding Political Dissent in Saudi Arabia

Gwenn Okruhlik

Local Conflict, Global Spin: An Uprising in the Yemeni Highlands

Iris Glosemeyer

The Iraq Effect in Saudi Arabia

Toby Jones

The Shi’a of Saudi Arabia at a Crossroads

Toby Matthiesen

5: Water, Oil and Workers

The Ghosts of American Camp

Robert Vitalis

Speaking of Water

George R. Trumbull IV

Saudi Alchemy: Water into Oil, Oil into Water

Toby Jones

Water Conflict and Cooperation in Yemen

Gerhard Lichtenthaeler

Yemenis on Mars

Engseng Ho

6: The Roots and Course of the 2011 Uprisings

Foreboding about the Future in Yemen

Sarah Phillips

The Snake with a Thousand Heads: The Southern Cause in Yemen

Susanne Dahlgren

No Pink Slip for Salih: What Yemen’s Protests Do (and Do Not) Mean

Stacey Philbrick Yadav

No Exit: Yemen’s Existential Crisis

Sheila Carapico

Tawakkul Karman as Cause and Effect

Stacey Philbrick Yadav

Looking for Revolution in Kuwait

Mary Ann Tétreault

Ansar al-Shari’a

Sheila Carapico

Collective Frustration, but No Collective Action, in Qatar

Justin Gengler

Demonstrators, Dialogues, Drones and Dialectics

Sheila Carapico

7: America’s Deep Engagement

America’s Sawt al-Saud

Al Miskin

Investigating the Cole Bombing

Charles Schmitz

Washington’s New Arms Bazaar

Sean L. Yom

Embracing Crisis in the Gulf

Toby Jones

Rules of Engagement

Sheila Carapico

Secret US Bases?

Sheila Carapico

Of Dangling Bodies

Al Miskin

Stuck (or Not) in a “Special Relationship”

Toby Jones

Romancing the Throne

Sheila Carapico

What About ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Awlaqi?

Lisa Hajjar

Obama’s Firing Range in Arabia

Chris Toensing

8: Yemen’s Implosions, 2014

Explosions and Ill Omens: On the Stage at World Theater Day in Yemen

Katherine Hennessey

Southern Yemeni Activists Prepare for Nationwide Rally

Susanne Dahlgren

Chanting for Southern Independence

Anne-Linda Amira Augustin

A Poor People’s Revolution: The Southern Movement Heads toward Independence from Yemen

Susanne Dahlgren

Yemen’s (Super-)Imposed Federal Boundaries

Tobias Thiel

The Breakdown of the GCC Initiative

Stacey Philbrick Yadav and Sheila Carapico

9: Saudi-Led, American-Backed Military Intervention, 2015

Operation Decisive Storm and the Expanding Counterrevolution

John M. Willis

A Grim New Phase in Yemen’s Migration History

Marina de Regt

Two Resolutions, a Draft Constitution (and Late Developments)

Sheila Carapico

The Moral Economy of Distance in the Yemeni Crisis

Jillian Schwedler and Stacey Philbrick Yadav

Yemen Talks in Geneva

Gabriele vom Bruck (2015)

The Multiple Wars in Yemen

Susanne Dahlgren and Anne-Linda Amira Augustin

The GCC Needs a Successful Strategy for Yemen, Not Failed Tactics

James Spencer

Conclusion

About the Editor

About MERIP

Maps

Map 1: States, Capital Cities, and Borders in the Arabian Peninsula (2015)

Map 2: The Yemen Arab Republic and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (1970–90)

Map 3: Arabian Peninsula Population Density by Governorate and Major Cities by Population (2014 data)

Map 4: US Military Installations and Shared Local Facilities in the Arabian Peninsula and Coastal Waters

Map 5: Proposed Federal Boundaries (2014)

Table

Table 1: Gross Domestic Product Per Capita of Arabian Peninsula Countries

Political Cartoons by Samer Mohammed Al-Shameeri

1. Saudi royalty suppressing Yemeni cries for justice.

2. North and South Yemen coming apart at the seams.

3. Gulf monarchs playing tiddlywinks with a bomb labeled “Yemen.”

4. United States and Saudi Arabia at poker game seem to have discarded Hadi.

5. UN Special Mediator Jamal Ben Omar paving Yemen’s road off a cliff.

6. Houthi forces march into the South Yemeni quick sands.

7. Houthi speaking “in the name of the people.”

8. “Legitimacy”: Saudi Arabia holding up ‘Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi amidst the ruins of his country.

9. Members of the anti-Yemen Decisive Storm Coalition standing in line for the Saudi cash machine.

10. UN Security Council Resolution 2216, passed April 14, 2015, blocks first aid to Yemeni victims.

11. Saudi Arabia attacking Iran but whacking Yemen.

12. King Salman distributing money to Yemeni politicians in and beyond the Hadi government.

13. Saudi warplane feeding Yemen to al-Qa`ida terrorism.

14. Saudi commander instructing fighter pilot to target civilian homes.

15. Houthis depriving Ta’izz of drinking water.