Some scholars have suggested that the problem with Somalia lies not in the lack of a state, but in our insistence on seeing Somalia through the lens of the nation-state (Turnbull, MERIP 256). In Yemen some have argued similarly that tribes and state, at least as they are commonly understood, should be dropped from our discussion of Yemen. These scholars argue that the concepts of tribe and state hinder any clear understanding of events in Yemen, or worse, that they conjure what does not exist and actually confound matters. As a way of contributing to this debate about the utility of the concept of tribe and state in Yemen, this presentation will survey some of the recent literature, particularly from Yemeni scholars, on tribe and the state in Yemen. The paper will address in particular ideas about the changes that are occurring in the social organization of tribes and rural regions of Yemen, the complicated and oft misunderstood interrelationships between state power and tribal power, and the assumptions about the nature of a modern state that underlie a lot of the writing on Yemeni politics. A central question will be the oft repeated assertion in Yemen of the weakness of national allegiances relative to tribal or regional loyalties and what this means in terms of Yemen politics. The paper will also try to extract and separate political stances from academic ideas about tribe and state. Notions of tribe and state play important political roles in Yemen and in policy circles of foreign capitals. A lot of the writing on tribe and state in Yemen is imbued with normative assumptions that reflect political priorities rather than a close understanding of the dynamics of Yemen politics and society. This presentation will attempt to highlight these normative agendas in the literature.

Most approaches to understanding opposition politics in Yemen take the various groups involved in such politics as preexisting and in some sense “prepolitical”: the Houthis are understood through their religious identity, members of the Southern Movement by their regional identity, and so forth. Analysis of the Joint Meeting Parties opposition alliance, however, offers the opportunity to explore new political identities in the making. Rather than viewing members as attached to the JMP secondary to their primary attachments to existing political parties with distinctive ideologies - from the Islamist Islah to the Leftist YSP or Nasserists – this paper explores the possibility of an emergent common identity among middle-tier leaders of the alliance. Moreover, it traces the mechanisms that have made this identity possible, from organized student politics in the 1990s to shared membership in professional syndicates, to the independent media that has formed a common “staging ground” through which the JMP platform has been articulated. Employing insights from social movement theory, this paper argues that while this emergent identity has offered a more coherent political message, it has come at the cost of political efficacy. As the middle-tier leadership of the JMP has become more committed to the alliance, this has highlighted generational cleavages within the member parties and encouraged the development of other ancillary organizations that work at cross-purposes to the JMP.

Studies on current traditional forms of authority in Yemen have mostly focused on tribal and religious authorities; consistently using those two terms to analyze much of the political and social dynamics of the country. There is, however, another form of authority which deserves much attention, which is that of the “seyyid”. Within this social segment the two forms of authority converge to create a hybrid that is not solely religious neither solely tribal. Neglecting this segment with its peculiar form of authority may be due to a misconception that it has been effectively eroded with the coup d’état of 1962. This would have been the case, had country been radically revolutionized. But what happened was that the basic forms of local authority were retained, and the “seyyid” merely limited in power, but not eliminated as an authority. The “seyyid” authority which was acquired in their 1100 years of presence in Yemen has many layers. One of those layers is the “seyyid” monopolization to the right of governance; ie: the Imamah. But other layers still persist and have continuously been manifested directly and indirectly in various situations from the simple role of mediation, to the leadership of the strongest insurgency in the Republican history of Yemen. One can even extend that authority to conscious sense of intimidation the presence of the “seyyid” still exhorts. This doesn’t mean that it is a static authority. Rather it is as all traditional authorities undergoing its own process of adaptation to the various challenges and requirements of modernization. My paper will highlight some of the questions that need to be asked to gain a better understanding of this traditional hybrid form of authority in terms of its foundations and socio-political role.

Modern Yemeni society is a complex web of local and foreign institutions, hybrid traditions, and modern and ancient cultures and competing values. All of these coexist and interact in an environment that is increasingly uncertain owing to the threat of terrorism, rebel movements, crippling poverty, growing population, and dwindling natural resources. Manifest in different ways, these problems strain daily dealings and create anxiety among Yemenis and foreigners alike, largely because there is not one discernible path forward. The absence of a system for resolving many of the problems encourages disputes which frequently escalate, leading to violent disagreements and, on a broader scale, occasional armed conflict. Legal mechanisms for arriving at reasonable, respected, and enforceable resolutions are either too unclear to be useful or entirely non-existent. In this vacuum, natural and traditional authority figures are marginalized and, therefore, ineffectual. Tribal values, the stalwart backbone of northern Yemeni society, are no longer effective enough to govern most relationships in that part of the country as people migrate to developing cities. Southerners still struggle to adapt to the unique ways that Sana’a conducts its governmental and business affairs, including resolving disputes. Democratic practices and principles, often a guide to judicious solutions, are evident rhetorically, but in many ways have yet to take root among average citizens. These conditions muddle channels of authority and generate confusion about the sources and extent of power, influence, and control in the country, generally creating inefficient ways of handling conflicts. The country’s ability to evolve into a stronger, more unified, and more stable multicultural state is thus restricted. This paper seeks to answer a fundamental question: what are current effective mechanisms for dispute resolution in Yemen? Drawing on practical approaches to resolving specific types of conflicts involving official, non-official, and quasi-official entities, both interpersonal and institutional, it will examine the nexus of relationships, the level of cultural import, and the intersection of individual expectations required for effectively resolving disputes. The majority of Yemeni opinions about dispute resolution usually advocate violent solutions, an unsustainable approach that only increases disorder and anxiety. While the expectations, systems, and actual mechanisms necessary for attaining reasonable and peaceful solutions to disputes in Yemen are rarely evident, those results are achievable given a proper understanding of how to marshal authority, manipulate influence, and maintain control.

This study looks at the ways in which Yemeni men and women living in Addis Ababa construct their communal identity through religious practices, and the extent to which religion is also used as a tool of assimilation. I intend to analyze the ways in which the Yemeni community has negotiated daily life in Ethiopia through the imaginative and creative construction of meaning, creating and recreating a Muslim and Yemeni identity through religious practice, which enables them to both adapt to life in Ethiopia and which also brings memories of Yemen to life. Despite the fact that there is a sizable Yemeni, chiefly Hadrami, community living in diaspora, very little has been written about those in Ethiopia. This paper offers further analysis of displaced and relocated religious communities, transnational Yemeni and muwallad identity, and the religious practices of Yemenis abroad. It asks how Yemenis in diaspora plan to transmit Yemeni cultural and religious values to their children. More broadly, it sheds light on the intersections between identity, culture, and religion.