اليمن « ƆAL-JAMAN »
— Officially: الجمهورية اليمنية « ɔal-Ĝumhūrīaḧ ɔal-Jamanīaḧ ».
— English: Yemen.
— Seat of primary government: صنعاء « Sancāɔ ».
— Status: Not democratic; not unitary.
— Structure: Shared government of various contesting armed forces, including the recognized state.
— Governing parties: أنصار الله « Ɔansār ɔal-Lah »; االمؤتمر الشعبي العام « ɔal-Mủtamar ɔal-Šacbī ɔal-Cām »; military; تنظيم القاعدة في جزيرة العرب « Tanđīm ɔal-Qācidaḧ fī Ĝazīraḧ ɔal-Carab ».
— Heads of government: عبد الملك الحوثي « Cabd ɔul-Malik ɔal-Hūţī »; على عبدالله صالح « Calī Cabdɔullah Sālih »; صالح علي الصماد « Sālih Calī ɔal-Sam:ād », president of Supreme Political Council; ناصر الوحيشي « Nāsir ɔal-Ŭuhajšī »; عبد ربه منصور الهادي « Cabd Rab:uh Mansūr ɔal-Hādī », president; خالد بحاح « Xālad Bahāh », prime minister/vice-president.
— Chief electoral opposition party: التجمع اليمني للإصلاح « ɔal-Taĝam:ucu ɔal-Jamanī lil-Ɔislāh ».
— Assessment: Illiberal in most things, autocratic before 2011, and tumultuous since then. صالح « Sālih » took power in 1978 and immediately began concentrating his rule by executing opponents. After the unification with اليمن – عدن « ɔal-Jaman – Cadan » in 1990, the first parliamentary elections, in 1993, were fairly democratic, but the state eventually settled into an expanded صالح « Sālih » autocracy, particularly after a north-south civil war in 1994. The 1999 presidential election, though not truly democratic, did show great voter enthusiasm for the forms of democracy. Parliamentary elections were held in 2003 in which women participated as voters and, though not in significant numbers, as candidates. In 2006, صالح « Sālih » claimed an intention to stand down, but eventually announced his candidacy for a further term. In 2011, protests in the region were duplicated here as well. صالح « Sālih » repeatedly promised to stand down, and then reneged. He finally stepped down for official purposes in early 2012, but his family and appointees remained in place, and he was able to influence affairs through their control of the security apparatus. الهادي « ɔal-Hādī » was officially “elected” unopposed. In 2014, the حوثيون « Hūţīūn », a radical religious organization who had been running their own state in the far north of the recognized territory, took control of صنعاء « Sancāɔ », in conjuction with صالح « Sālih »; by 2015, they controlled most of the west, and the influence of الهادي « ɔal-Hādī » was quite limited. A bombing campaign by العربية السعودية « ɔal-Carabīaḧ ɔal-Sacūdīaḧ » aimed to drive them back, at least from عدن « Cadan », which had become الهادي « ɔal-Hādī »’s base of operations.
— FH: 6-6, not free. Econ: 3.12 (140), authoritarian.
— Updated: 2016 October 7.
O.T. FORD