The Geoeconomics of Reconstruction in Yemen
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.
1 min read
Recommendations
- A coordinated and unified GCC response to postconflict reconstruction in Yemen will be essential to meeting the country’s political and economic requirements.
- Yemen’s long-term economic viability will be greatly enhanced if the GCC extends some of its membership privileges, such as tariff relief for exports from Yemen and labor concessions.
- Yemen’s political culture of patronage, especially from foreign influence, is likely to persist. To reduce the tendency to play one foreign patron against another, patron-client relationships between foreign states and local governorates and armed groups must be centralized into state agencies or federal units, to bring legitimacy to government, not warlords, militias, or sectarian actors.
- One effective mechanism to restore legitimacy to local governments and limit discrepancies in regional access to relief, including the disbursement of salaries, is an effort to increase transparency in the amount and distribution of aid funds by region and local governments at the municipal level.
- A central tenet of any reconstruction program should be setting realistic goals. While the temptation may be to aim for major infrastructure projects like ports, airports, and free zones, small-scale projects like sanitation rehabilitation, localized solar power grids, infrastructure or public building repair, and small roads projects of the kind the World Bank is engaged in are far more likely to provide tangible benefits.
- Local needs assessments should be conducted in conjunction with local communities to ensure maximum possible buy-in.
The views represented herein are the author's or speaker's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of AGSI, its staff, or its board of directors.
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