Yemen on the Brink

Yemen is a nation in crisis. A civil war in the North, a secessionist movement in the South, and a resurgent al-Qaeda organization are active against a background of economic collapse, lack of state capacity, and governance and corruption issues.

Without addressing Yemen's immediate security challenges, the country's long-term economic and governance issues cannot be resolved. Yemen on the Brink brings together analyses of the critical problems that have brought Yemen close to state failure. The volume offers assessments by leading experts of Yemen's major security challenges, and broadens the discussion of the tools available to the international community to pull the country back from the brink. Separate chapters examine the resurgence of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; the complex relationship between al-Qaeda and the tribes; the Southern secessionist movement; and the civil war in Saada.

"A compelling study on the part of Carnegie to help explain the complexities of Yemen to increasingly concerned Western policy makers."-Nabeel Khourly, U.S. Department of State

"Political, economic and security developments in Yemen increasingly affect the European Union, and this book will serve as a valuable resource for policy makers as they work to address the many challenges facing Yemen."-Gilles de Kerchove, EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator

Christopher Boucek is an associate in the Carnegie Middle East Program, where his research focuses on regional security challenges. He is also an associate fellow of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, London. Before joining the Carnegie Endowment, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University and lecturer in politics at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. Marina Ottaway is the director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She works on issues of political transformation in the Middle East and of Gulf security.