Abstract

Against the backdrop of a UN-brokered transition agreement, in February 2012, the Yemeni President ‘Ali ‘Abdullah Saleh relinquished power to his deputy, who formed a new government which included the opposition. Unlike uprisings in other Arab countries, in Yemen, elite rivalries revealed themselves in the uprising of 2011 and shaped its trajectory. Saleh’s rivals joined the protest movement and took control of it, establishing hierarchical relations among the protesters and thus enabling themselves to exercise censorship. In certain respects, the old regime has endured in another guise, but the new president, ‘Abd-Rabbu Mansur Hadi, has begun to dismantle some of its pillars. In the light of a collapsed economy, a humanitarian crisis, unresolved conflicts in several parts of the country, political instability and greater U.S. involvement, he faces extraordinary challenges.