Economic

This paper explores the significant yet often overlooked role of youth in Yemen’s transitional justice process. It is premised on the belief that any peace settlement must be accompanied by a transitional justice process to ensure its sustainability and to address all forms of injustice and violations that have occurred during the war. Crucially, it argues that any transitional justice…

The ongoing Iran War is reshaping the region in ways that exceed all prior projections, compelling all parties involved in the conflict, or affected by it, to reposition themselves and reconsider the assumptions that have long guided their decisions. What is unfolding is not simply a redrawing of the balance of power in the region. More fundamentally, Iran and its…

It took the Houthis less than three days to announce their military and political support for Gaza in the wake of the events of October 7, 2023. By October 19, they had fired their first missile toward Israel. Just one month later, they hijacked the Galaxy Leader ship and launched their campaign to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea. This…

On February 28, the US and Israel began a massive air offensive against Iran, targeting its leadership, command and control, and intelligence sites across the country. On March 1, Iranian media confirmed that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed, by which point airstrikes had expanded to military targets and nuclear facilities, and Tehran had begun to retaliate, firing…

National dialogues have been used as instruments to resolve political crises and pave the way for political transitions and sustainable peace. They have emerged in the context of transitional countries struggling with complex legacies of violence and political instability, including Afghanistan, Mexico, Somalia, and Colombia. Since then, they have evolved into instruments used in a wider variety of national contexts…

The war has fundamentally altered Yemen’s trade finance system, transforming it from a reliable, unified, bank-led mechanism into several divergent, conflicting structures that have made import financing cumbersome, costly, and unstable. The conflict has led to the suspension of oil and gas exports — the country’s primary source of revenue and foreign currency — and resulted in the division of…

Three weeks after Prime Minister Shayea al-Zindani was tasked with forming a government, a notably large cabinet was announced, comprising 35 ministers, including eight ministers of state (see full list and bios below). Since the start of the war, Yemen has seen successive changes in the premiership without corresponding changes in the government, and the formation of quota-based cabinets in…

Since 2011, governments in Yemen have been formed based on power sharing rather than electoral entitlement, with ministerial quotas for political parties. The first such government, established under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Initiative, was based on power-sharing between the General People’s Congress, the incumbent power, and the Joint Meeting Parties, the opposition. Then, following the first Riyadh Agreement of…

Recent developments in Yemen have broken years of stagnation, bringing the country into an explosive new era. The Southern Transitional Council’s (STC) initial expansion into the eastern governorates, and its subsequent loss of territory and dissolution under Saudi pressure, have revealed the fragility of the Gulf powers’ “containment” approach to Yemen. This strategy, which has traditionally relied on sharing influence…

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates predate the recent confrontation in Hadramawt, stemming from a deeper rift that was already apparent at the start of the coalition’s campaign in Yemen. From the outset, the two powers pursued distinct goals, influenced by broader economic ambitions and long-standing strategic competition that extended well beyond Yemen’s borders. The friction between…