The limits of the sectarian narrative in Yemen
The conflict in Yemen presents an apparently quintessential example of sectarian conflict in the Middle East today. At the domestic level, the conflict is typically seen as one which pits Shia Muslims, in the form of the Zaydi Houthi movement, against its Sunni Muslim antagonists in the form of the deposed but internationally-recognised president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his supporters. At the regional level, the conflict is represented as proxy war between Iran, the sponsors of the Houthis and Sunni Muslim powers, led by Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who intervened in 2015 with the objective of restoring Hadi to power. This paper argues that there are strict limits to the utility of the sectarian narrative in the analysis of the Yemeni conflict and presents a critical analysis of the sectarian framing of Yemeni political dynamics. It begins with a broad attempt to contextualise the discussion of sectarianism in the region. This is followed by an extended discussion of the view of the conflict as inherently sectarian at both the domestic and regional levels. This, in turn, is followed by a critique of the sectarian narrative, at both levels.
-
Abdo, G. (2013) The new sectarianism: the Arab uprisings and the rebirth of the Shi’a–Sunni divide, Analysis Paper No.29, The Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings.
-
Al-Rasheed, M. (2013) Saudi Arabia: local and regional challenges, Contemporary Arab Affairs, 6(1): 28–40. doi: 10.1080/17550912.2012.753797
-
Ardemagni, E. (2018) ‘The UAE’s Security-Economic Nexus in Yemen’, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace available at: https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/76876
-
Barzegar, K. and Divsallar, A. (2017) Political rationality in Iranian foreign policy, The Washington Quarterly, 40(1): 39–53. doi: 10.1080/0163660X.2017.1302738
-
Byman, D. (2014) Sectarianism afflicts the new Middle East, Survival, 56(1): 79–100. doi: 10.1080/00396338.2014.882157
-
Byman, D. (2018) Yemen’s disastrous war, Survival, 60(5): 141–58. doi: 10.1080/00396338.2018.1518376
-
Clausen, M.-L. (2015) Understanding the crisis in Yemen: evaluating competing narratives, The International Spectator, 50(3): 16–29. doi: 10.1080/03932729.2015.1053707
-
Clausen, M.-L. (2018) Competing for control over the state: the case of Yemen, Small Wars and Insurgencies, 29(3): 560–78. doi: 10.1080/09592318.2018.1455792
-
Darwich, M. (2018) The Saudi intervention in Yemen: struggling for status, Insight Turkey, 20(2): 125–42. doi: 10.25253/99.2018202.08
-
Dixon, P. (2017) Beyond sectarianism in the Middle East? Comparative perspectives on group conflict, in Wehrey, F. (ed), Beyond Sunni and Shia: The Roots of Sectarianism in a Changing Middle East, London: Hurst.
-
Dorlian, S. (2011) The Sa’da War in Yemen: between politics and sectarianism, The Muslim World, 182–201. doi: 10.1111/j.1478-1913.2011.01352.x
-
Durac, V. (2011) The joint meeting parties and the politics of opposition in Yemen, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 38(3): 343–65. doi: 10.1080/13530194.2011.621697
-
Durac, V. (2018) Islamism in Yemen: From Ansar Allah to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, in H. Kraetzschmar and P. Rivetti (eds) Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
-
Gause, F.G. III (2014) Beyond sectarianism: the new Middle East cold war, Brookings Doha Centre Analysis Paper Number 11, July.
-
Gause, F.G. III (2015) Ideologies, alliances and underbalancing in the new Middle East Cold War, International Theory and a Changing Middle East, POMEPS Studies 16, https://pomeps.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/POMEPS_Studies_16_IR_Web1.pdf
-
Gengler, J. (2016) The Political Economy of Sectarianism in the Gulf, Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
-
Haddad, F. (2017) Sectarianism and its discontents in the study of the Middle East, Middle East Journal, 71(3): 363–82. doi: 10.3751/71.3.12
-
Hashemi, N. (2016) Towards a political theory of sectarianism in the Middle East: the salience of authoritarianism over theology, Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies, 1(1): 65–76. doi: 10.2979/jims.1.1.05
-
Hanau Santini, R. (2017) A new regional cold war in the Middle East and North Africa: Regional security complex theory revisited, The International Spectator, 52(4): 93–111. doi: 10.1080/03932729.2017.1371487
-
Horton, M. (2017) The battle for Yemen: a quagmire for Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Jamestown Foundation, https://jamestown.org/program/battle-yemen-quagmire-saudi-arabia-uae/
-
International Crisis Group (ICG) (2016) Yemen: is peace possible?, International Crisis Group Middle East Report, 167.
-
International Crisis Group (ICG) (2014) The huthis: from Saada to Sanaa, International Crisis Group Middle East Report, 154.
-
Kendall, E. (2017) Iran’s fingerprints in Yemen: Real or imagined?, Atlantic Council, www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/issue-briefs/iran-s-fingerprints-in-yemen-real-or-imagined
-
Kendall, E. (2019) The failing Islamic state within the failed state of Yemen, Perspectives on Terrorism, 13(1): 78–87.
-
Khatib, L. (2019) Syria, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Qatar: the sectarianization of the Syrian conflict and undermining of democratization in the region, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 46(3): 385–403. doi: 10.1080/13530194.2017.1408456
-
Mason, R. (2018) ‘Breaking the mold of small state classification? The broadening influence of United Arab Emirates foreign policy through effective military and bandwagoning strategies’, Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, 24:1, 95–112.
-
Ostovar, A. (2016) Sectarian dilemmas in Iranian foreign policy: when strategy and identity politics collide, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, https://carnegieendowment.org/2016/11/30/sectarian-dilemmas-in-iranian-foreign-policy-when-strategy-and-identity-politics-collide-pub-66288
-
Partrick, Neil (2017) The UAE’s war aims in Yemen, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/73524
-
Phillips, C. (2015) Sectarianism and conflict in Syria, Third World Quarterly, 36(2): 357–76. doi: 10.1080/01436597.2015.1015788
-
Roberts, D.B. (2017) Qatar and the UAE: Exploring divergent responses to the Arab Spring, The Middle East Journal, 71(4): 544–62. doi: 10.3751/71.4.12
-
Ryan, C.R. (2015) Regime security and shifting alliances in the ME, International Relations Theory and a Changing Middle East, POMEPS Studies 16, https://pomeps.org/wp- content/uploads/2015/09/POMEPS_Studies_16_IR_Web1.pdf
-
Salem, P. (2016) Working towards a Stable Regional Order, The Annals of the American Academy, 668(1): 36–52.
-
Salloukh, B.F. (2013) The Arab uprisings and the geopolitics of the Middle East, The International Spectator, 48(2): 32–46. doi: 10.1080/03932729.2013.787830
-
Salisbury, P. (2015) Yemen and the Saudi-Iranian “cold war”, Chatham House, 18 February.
-
Salisbury, P. (2016) Yemen: Stemming the rise of a chaos state, London: Chatham House Middle East and North Africa Programme.
-
Salmoni, B., Loidolt, B. and Wells, M. (2010) Regime and Periphery in Northern Yemen: The Huthi Phenomenon, Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation.
-
Schmitz, C. (2014) The Houthi ascent to power, Middle East Institute, www.mei.edu/publications/huthi-ascent-power
-
Sharp, J.M. (2019) Yemen: civil war and regional intervention, Congressional Research Service, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R43960.pdf
-
Stenslie, S. (2013) Not too strong, not too weak: Saudi Arabia’s policy towards Yemen, Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre, www.files.ethz.ch/isn/162439/87736bc4da8b0e482f9492e6e8baacaf.pdf
-
Szalai, M. (2017) Between accommodation and opportunism: Explaining the growing influence of small Gulf states in the Middle East, The International Spectator, 52(2): 3–18. doi: 10.1080/03932729.2017.1298881
-
Transfeld, M. (2015) The failure of the transitional process in Yemen, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, www.swp-berlin.org/en/publication/yemen-transitional-process-failed/
-
Wehrey, F. (2015) The authoritarian resurgence: Saudi Arabia’s anxious autocrats, Journal of Democracy, 26(2): 71–85 doi: 10.1353/jod.2015.0021
-
Zubaida, S. (2014) Sectarian dimensions, Middle East Journal, 68(2): 318–22. doi: 10.3751/68.2.3
| May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 44 | 44 | 17 |
| Full Text Views | 37 | 37 | 0 |
| PDF Downloads | 33 | 33 | 0 |
We are a leading social science publisher
committed to making a difference.
Bristol University Press and
Policy Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk