Yemen into the Twenty-First Century: Continuity and Change [Hardcover]

Kamil A. Mahdi (Editor), Anna Wuerth (Editor), Helen Lackner (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0863722903 | ISBN-13: 978-0863722905 | Publication Date: July 30, 2007

In 1990 the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen united to form the Republic of Yemen. The following decade was marked by the political process of unification on the one hand, and by the processes of changing institutions, social dynamics and merged economies on the other.This book focuses on the major social, legal and economic aspects of this transformation, and it is possibly the only such analysis concentrating on these aspects during a crucial period in the history of modern Yemen. The 1990s witnessed the birth of an entity significantly different from its original constituent states. In addition to the process of establishing unified institutions, the decade was marked by increased revenues from oil exports, the worsening of the water crisis affecting agriculture and hence the income base for over 70 per cent of the population, the financial, economic and social crisis brought about by the 1990-91 Gulf War in the first half of the decade, and the greater influence of foreign aid institutions in the second half of the decade, in addition to the ongoing rapid increase in the population.The book brings together work by leading Yemeni and international scholars and addresses all these important developments, directly or indirectly, so as to provide a unique analysis of key economic, social and legal issues facing Yemen at the start of the twenty-first century.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Ithaca (July 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0863722903
• ISBN-13: 978-0863722905
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,352,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > History > Middle East > Yemen

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2.0 out of 5 stars Dated Beyond Hope, July 29, 2008

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This review is from: Yemen into the Twenty-First Century: Continuity and Change (Hardcover)

In recent years, Yemen, a backwater for centuries, is in the news as Osama bin Laden's ancestral homeland and an important battlefield in the war on terrorism, M. Rubin from the MEQ states. But don't expect this volume, assembled by researchers and lecturers at Exeter University (Mahdi and Lackner) and the Free University of Berlin (Würth), to touch these subjects as this collection of papers dates from a conference that took place in 1998. Rather, subjects covered include political economy, the legal system, environment, and social and regional issues. Left unaddressed--by the editors' own admission--are foreign relations, military affairs, and party politics.

Many articles show their age. Charles Schmitz, an associate professor at Towson University, for example, seeks to extrapolate future challenges to the Yemeni society based on economic indicators from the early 1990s. What once may have been timely becomes silly when delayed publication means, in effect, skipping over a decade of more recent statistics. Drew University professor Nora Ann Colton's section on labor migration raises eyebrows because it addresses "the Gulf crisis" without reference to the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent fall of the Saddam Hussein regime.

Such datedness is a pity. Scholarly literature on Yemen is sparse, and many of the chapters are serious. The contributors have not substituted theory for research, and the analysis of the judiciary and its machinations is useful. Updating former presidential legal advisor Hussein al-Hubaishi's chapter on commercial litigation would be especially valuable given growing U.S., European, and Chinese interest in investment in the region. Also in need of expansion are the articles on medical care and health. Given its potential, how frustrating it is that Yemen into the Twenty-First Century remains stubbornly in the twentieth.