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Tracking the “Arab Spring”: Yemen Changes Everything… And Nothing

Issue Date October 2013
Volume 24
Issue 4
Page Numbers 74-85
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Read the full essay here.

A long-ruling strongman president has been unseated by popular unrest and a negotiated transition is under way, but to many Yemenis this all appears to be a change more of appearance than of substance.

About the Author

April Longley Alley is senior Arabian Peninsula analyst for the International Crisis Group. She writes extensively on Yemen and currently resides in Sana‘a.

View all work by April Longley Alley

Further Reading

Volume 25, Issue 1

Reconsidering the “Transition Paradigm”

Four leading experts on democracy discuss the relevance of the “transition paradigm” in light of the “Arab Spring” and other developments in the world today.

Volume 29, Issue 1

Dashed Hopes and Extremism in Tunisia

Tunisia is now one of the Arab world’s most democratic countries, but it has also been producing worrisome numbers of recruits for groups such as ISIS. How can this paradox be explained? 

Volume 24, Issue 2

Islamists and Democracy: Cautions from Pakistan

It is easy for Islamists to accept the democratic principle of majority rule when it results in their being elected to power. But the experience of Pakistan warns us that…