Yemen’s peace process has a structural blind spot: The south’s political future

Yemen’s prolonged conflict is frequently discussed through the familiar language of ceasefires, military de-escalation, humanitarian assistance and negotiations between the principal armed parties. These are important elements of any effort to end the war. Yet they do not fully explain why successive political initiatives have struggled to establish a durable settlement. The deeper problem is structural: Yemen’s crisis is not simply a contest over who controls the central government. It is also a dispute over the nature of the state, the distribution of political authority and the future status of its different regions. Among these questions, the Southern Question remains one of the most consequential and least adequately resolved. A peace process that postpones this question risks producing an agreement […]