Yemen Divided The Story of a Failed State in South Arabia

by Brehony, Noel

• ISBN13: 9781848856356
• ISBN10: 1848856350
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-15
• Publisher: Atlas Books

Summary

South Yemen has come to be seen as a potential Al-Qaeda stronghold and at the heart of a separatist movement threatening to rip apart southern Arabia. How has this country of forbidding mountains and arid deserts gone from British colony to communist state and then to 'terrorist base' in just half a century? In 'Yemen Divided', author and Middle East expert Noel Brehony tells for the first time the comprehensive history of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY). He explains the power politics that came to form a communist republic a few hundred miles from the holiest site in Islam, and the process and conflicts that led to Yemeni unification in 1990. The impact of the PDRY is still felt today as Saudi and government armed forces engage with Houthis in the North and unrest continues to simmer across the South. 'Yemen Divided' is an important book for anyone wanting to understand why Yemen, sensitive neighbour of Saudi Arabia and strategically vital to Middle East security, has veered towards massive instability.

Author Biography

Noel Brehony had a career as a diplomat after completing a PhD from Durham and post doctoral research in the Middle East. He was in Aden in the early years of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen and followed events there until unity in 1990. He is a Research Associate at the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and has been chairman of the Middle East Association and the Council for British Research in the Levant and President of the British Society of Middle East Studies. He is currently chairman of the British Yemeni Society.

Table of Contents

Yemen Divided: Independence and unity * Preface and acknowledgements * Introduction * Winning independence and setting up the state * From South Arabia to South Yemen * The National Liberation Front takes control * PRSY to PDRY via the Glorious Corrective Move * Moulding the state: The presidency of Salim Rubayya Ali 1969 to 1978 * Presidency, Party and Government * Internal and External Policies 1969-78 * Who leads - President or Party - and the downfall of Rubayya * Abd al-Fattah Ismail and the Yemeni Socialist Party *  Ali Nasir takes over the presidency, government and the party * Policies in the Ali Nasir year: the economy, Yemen and foreign relations * The end of the state and the road to unity * The events of 13 January and the new PDRY leadership * The road to Unity and the changing domestic and international environment * Unity, disintegration and domination * Conclusions * Did PDRY fail as a state and is there any prospect of it being revived?