Yemen at the Gulf’s Crossroads: State Fragmentation, Regional Order, Peacebuilding, and the Future of Gulf-Yemen Relations
Yemen occupies a distinctive position at the intersection of Gulf regional politics, Red Sea security, state transformation, and international efforts to address protracted conflict. Its proximity to Saudi Arabia and Oman, its strategic location along the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, and its dense historical, social, economic, and political connections with the Gulf make Yemen not simply an external security concern for Gulf states, but an impo ...
Abstract
Yemen occupies a distinctive position at the intersection of Gulf regional politics, Red Sea security, state transformation, and international efforts to address protracted conflict. Its proximity to Saudi Arabia and Oman, its strategic location along the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, and its dense historical, social, economic, and political connections with the Gulf make Yemen not simply an external security concern for Gulf states, but an important arena in which regional order is produced and contested.This workshop examines Yemen as a critical case for understanding the changing relationship between state fragmentation and Gulf regional politics. It moves beyond approaches that treat the Yemeni conflict primarily as a domestic crisis or a bilateral security problem and instead investigates the reciprocal relationship between Yemen’s political transformation and the interests, strategies, and security concerns of Gulf states.The workshop brings together scholars and practitioners working on state fragmentation, regional security, peacebuilding, political economy, migration, maritime security, and inclusive governance. Particular attention will also be given to the implications of Saudi Arabia’s evolving regional diplomacy, Oman’s mediation efforts, and Gulf economic transformation agendas, including Vision 2030 initiatives and emerging regional connectivity projects linking Yemen to the wider Gulf economy. Particular attention will be given to the interaction between fragmented political authority and regional intervention; the implications of Yemen’s political settlement for Gulf security; economic interdependence, reconstruction, and migration; and the role of women, civil society, and locally grounded actors in peacebuilding.By bringing Yemen more centrally into Gulf Studies, the workshop seeks to generate theoretically informed and policy-relevant research on how regional powers interact with fragmented states, how those interactions shape pathways toward peace and institutional recovery, and how the future of Yemen may contribute to the evolution of Gulf regional order.
Description and Rationale
Yemen represents one of the most consequential cases at the intersection of Gulf and wider Middle Eastern politics. Its geographical proximity to Saudi Arabia and Oman, its position adjacent to the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea, and its longstanding social, economic, and political connections with Gulf societies have made developments in Yemen directly relevant to Gulf security and regional stability. Yet Gulf–Yemen relations extend considerably beyond conventional interstate security. Cross-border communities, labor mobility, migration, trade, remittances, humanitarian assistance, development cooperation, political networks, and shared security concerns have created dense and multidimensional relationships between Yemen and its Gulf neighbors. These relationships have evolved alongside major transformations in Yemen’s political order, particularly the erosion of central state institutions and the emergence of competing centers of political and territorial authority.
The transformations following the 2011 uprising and subsequent political transition further altered the relationship. Institutional fragmentation, armed conflict, competing claims to legitimacy, and the emergence of de facto authorities created a political environment in which Gulf states have had to navigate overlapping security, diplomatic, humanitarian, economic, and geopolitical interests. The result has been a relationship that cannot be adequately understood through the conventional categories of foreign policy or interstate rivalry alone.
The Yemeni conflict also raises broader theoretical questions concerning the relationship between fragmented states and regional powers. Regional intervention may respond to domestic fragmentation, but it can simultaneously interact with and reshape the institutional structures within which political authority is exercised. Understanding this reciprocal relationship is essential for analyzing both Yemen’s political trajectory and the evolution of Gulf regional order.
The limitations of approaches centered primarily on military confrontation and elite bargaining are increasingly evident. A sustainable political settlement will depend not only on agreements among major political and armed actors, but also on institutional arrangements, local governance, economic recovery, social cohesion, and meaningful participation by women and civil society. These dimensions are directly connected to the interests of Gulf states, whose future relationship with Yemen will extend beyond conflict management toward questions of governance, reconstruction, economic connectivity, and regional security.
Yemen’s strategic significance has also expanded through developments in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab. Recent transformations in Gulf foreign policy and economic development strategies have increased the importance of Yemen for regional planning and connectivity. Saudi Vision 2030, regional logistics corridors, energy infrastructure projects, and emerging Gulf-Red Sea economic linkages highlight the need to examine Yemen not only through the lens of conflict and security, but also as a potential partner in future regional economic integration. Maritime insecurity has demonstrated the interconnectedness of Gulf, Red Sea, and international security systems, raising questions about collective security arrangements, economic connectivity, trade routes, and regional responses to transnational threats.
Against this backdrop, the workshop places Yemen within Gulf Studies not as a peripheral case, but as an analytically significant site for understanding regional order, state transformation, and peacebuilding. It asks how Yemen’s political fragmentation affects the Gulf, how Gulf policies and institutions shape Yemen’s political and economic trajectories, and what forms of regional engagement could contribute to sustainable peace and institutional recovery. The central premise is therefore reciprocal: Yemen is shaped by the Gulf regional environment, while developments in Yemen simultaneously reshape the security, political, economic, and institutional environment of the Gulf.
