Partial or total collapses in state authority, once rare, are no longer outliers in an otherwise stable international state system. A growing number of formally defined ‘states’ – that is, places with official borders and internationally recognized governments – now exist in reality only as lines on maps and concepts in policy papers and newspaper reports. The governments in these places lack the ability to perform the most basic of state functions, or are able to do so only in enclaves of state control. For the most part, governance vacuums on the ground are filled by unofficial groups that perform state-like functions.
In such places, basic functions and services – the supply of electricity and water, security, justice – are provided by political opposition networks, local communities and identity groups including extremist organizations like Al-Qaeda, often using revenues raised from taxing local trade. The lines between formal, informal and illicit economies are so blurred as to be almost entirely erased. Thus, in some cases the same networks that sustain gun-runners and people smugglers also ensure the flow of basic goods and even services to the poor.
The role of Gulf Arab states in Russia-Ukraine mediation reflects their rising global influence and the benefits of hedging and balancing in foreign policy.
The conflict in Yemen has exacted a disastrous toll on the country. This paper considers the outside forces in the conflict, seeking to elucidate who they are, what the nature is of their involvement, and what their converging and conflicting interests mean for reconstruction.
On June 19, UAE-backed Yemeni forces announced that they had consolidated their control over Hodeidah airport after a week of fierce fighting with Houthi rebels for the facility as part of Operation Golden Victory, a military campaign for Hodeidah port and city.
December brought some of the biggest shifts in Yemen’s civil war since a Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict in March 2015. On Dec. 4, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed by members of the Zaydi Shiite Houthi movement with whom he had been allied until just a couple of days before. His death has...
Partial or total collapses in state authority, once rare, are no longer outliers in an otherwise stable international state system. A growing number of formally defined ‘states’ – that is, places with official borders and internationally recognized governments – now exist in reality only as lines on maps and concepts in policy papers and newspaper reports. The governments in these places lack the ability to perform the most basic of state functions, or are able to do so only in enclaves of state control. For the most part, governance vacuums on the ground are filled by unofficial groups that perform state-like functions.
