Artistic Exchanges

While Yemen has inspired quite a few foreign artists and is thus represented, either in the guise of an orientalist dream or as a threat to international security, local artists have had few opportunities to present their production to the outside world. Such ignorance is to a large extent a symptom of the paradox of the relationship between Yemen and the world. However, new productions by Yemeni intellectuals are reaching new publics and reshaping the image of their country.

The Historical Foundations of Yemen’s Globalisation

The chapter opens the first section of the book, focusing on the various challenges of Yemen through its relations with the outside world. The chapter shows how much its history has been shaped by the outside world, despite an image of backwardness. It presents the divided trajectories of north and south Yemen as well as some of the specificities of its populations, in particular in terms of tribal structures and religious identities, and how they came into play since the beginning of the twentieth century, letting Yemen appear as an issue in the international game.

Conclusion

As this book has shown, Yemen’s interactions with the world are characterized by a form of mutual interdependence. The country is confronted with a number of structural challenges that it will not resolve themselves on their own. Amongst them, the issue of water scarcity is assumedly the most fundamental. However, as the dominant world continues to neglect these challenges and remains obsessed with jihadi violence or Iranian encroachment, it is likely that these structural, and yet forgotten challenges, will emerge in the global agenda.

The Challenge of Armed Islamism

The issue of armed Islamism, embodied in Yemen by al-Qaida, since the late 1990s, has structured much of the interactions between this country and the world. The threat of so-called jihadi movements has to a large extent concealed other forms of violence. It’s ill-management by both the Yemeni state and foreign, in particular American, decision makers has only led to the legitimization of armed groups and to a development of violence. In particular, drone attacks have had a largely counter-productive effect.

When the World Comes to Yemen

This chapter explores the often ignored interactions of foreigners with Yemen. Rather than a secluded society, Yemen is shaped by its many relations with foreign travelers, Asian and African communities, foreign students who study in Islamic and language institutes and Western diplomats and engineers. The interactions that are developed are often fascinating as they are characterized by complex and often ambiguous emotions.

Migrants, Merchants and Refugees

This fourth chapter opens the second section of the book, focusing on the various interactions of Yemenis with the world. It highlights the share that Yemenis have taken in shaping societies outside of Yemen throughout history, and more recently in the framework of the war that started in 2015. It focuses in particular on the model of the Hadhrami diaspora but also on the trajectory of migrants in the Gulf countries. The chapter shows how much perspectives for migration have gradually been shrinking in parallel with a growing demand for refuge and economic opportunities, as Yemen is confronted with war and crisis.

Introduction

The introduction aims to present the paradox of Yemen’s place in world politics and global representations over the last one hundred years or so. The country often appears as one where threats to the global order emerge and is at the same time largely overlooked. The introduction presents the main argument of the book: Yemeni society is concerned by a multitude of interactions with the outside world, many of which remain hidden. As the successive chapters show, this relationship to the world offers an interesting vantage point to understand contemporary Yemen.

The Yemeni State’s Many Divisions

Among the various challenges Yemen has to face, the fragmentation of its state throughout history and in its contemporary form, has deep implications. This second chapter examines how the contested legitimacy of the various Yemeni governments has shaped its international relations. A divided history has facilitated the domination of two actors: the United States on the one hand, Saudi Arabia on the other, which have both impeded in their own way on the capacity of the central state to monopolize power and violence. During the Cold War, in the frame of the unification process and then later during the so-called ‘Yemeni Spring’ and the war waged by the Arab coalition against the Huthi movement since 2015, such a division is an interesting, and yet often neglected variable, to understand the Middle East and international relations.