The weak/fragile state thesis claims that states like Yemen are a manifestation of spaces of chaos and lawlessness that provide a safe haven for terrorists. Central to this thesis is the state’s lack of sovereignty over its territory, which leads to deteriorating security situation detrimental to Western interests. Although the validity of weak or failed state thesis has come under scrutiny due to its orientalist trait, it continues to dominate the writings of security experts who assume its sufficiency to gauge the strength and weakness of state power within non-western contexts. In this paper, I argue that the theory of governmentality can help us better understand what is described as failed/weak state. I further argue that the state power should be viewed in terms of its ability to produce self-governed subjects over which it enacts its sovereignty. Based on ethnographic-historical materials, including fieldwork conducted in the wake of recent popular uprising in Yemen, this paper concludes that the thesis of failed/weak/fragile state is itself fragile failing as it does to explain the historicity and complexity of state power in non-western contexts.