Yemen on the Brink

Yemen is facing a unique confluence of crises. A civil war in the North, a secessionist movement in the South, and a resurgence of al Qaeda are unfolding against the background of economic collapse, insufficient state capacity, and governance and corruption issues.

The security challenges are the most important in the short run, because economic and governance issues cannot be addressed without a minimum of stability. This volume brings together analyses of the critical problems that have dragged Yemen close to state failure. It provides an assessment of Yemen's major security challenges by recognized experts, and it broadens the discussion of the tools available to the international community to pull Yemen back from the brink. Separate chapters examine the resurgence of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the complex relationship between al Qaeda and the Yemini tribes, the Southern secessionist movement, and the civil war in Saada.

Contents include

? Yemen: Avoiding a Downward Spiral

? What Comes Next in Yemen? Al-Qaeda, the Tribes, and State-Building

? The Political Challenge of Yemen's Southern Movement

? War in Saada: From Local Insurrection to National Challenge

? Instrumentalizing Grievances: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

Contributors include Sarah Phillips (Centre for International Security Studies, University of Sydney), Stephen Day (Rollins College), and Alistair Harris (RUSI and former diplomat and UN staff member).

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.