The Day Job

I'm quite pleased with how this rewritten intro to Yemen turned out. Basic; but reads OK. Not the simplest national history in the world.

Yemen - General Introduction

The modern history of Yemen is a complex and troubled one. The 20th century witnessed the withdrawal of colonial powers, foreign-backed war and financial dependency; Yemen was a Cold War battleground and went through reunification and civil war. At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, Yemen has been described as a ‘failing state’ (Colton 2010, Barron 2008) with a severely damaged economy, resentment of the ruling Northern powers and sections of the country in open armed revolt. Yemen has both the largest and poorest population on the Arabian peninsula, with over 20 million people in an area similar to that of Ireland (MEDEA 2008) – among whom the unemployment rate is estimated to be as high as 40 per cent (Colton 2010).
Yet this is the region of Arabia known to Ptolemy as Eudaimon Arabia – Fortunate Arabia, a term adopted by the Romans as Arabia Felix; Herodotus described the region as ‘…scented with [the spices of Arabia], and exhales an odor marvellously sweet.’ (in Ovendale 1998). This fanciful description reflects the importance of Yemen at that time in the trade in incense and spices. The Incense Route along the Western part of the Arab peninsula was the predecessor of the Indian Spice Route (Artzy 1994), and the origin of much of the frankincense, one of the most important and valuable items of trade, was Wadi Hadramaut in what is now the eastern part of Yemen (Shackley 2002). This ancient wealth is remembered in tales of the queen known to Arab scholars as Bilqis and in the Bible as the Queen of Sheba (Saba). The people of Yemen were also very successful in their exploitation of rain water by developing an ingenious irrigation system, including the famous Marib dam, whose purpose, according to one account, was not to retain water but to deflect the runoff from the occasional rains into irrigation canals which helped agriculture and made that region the only area of the peninsula to be self sufficient in agriculture (Baynard et al 1980, pp. 7-9).
The interior of Yemen would go into a long decline as trade shifted from the overland routes to maritime routes along the Red Sea, although the port of Aden remains important. Yemen was early to accept Islam, and this would shape the development of the region over the next centuries. Following on from Abassid rule from Baghdad, the Zaydi imamate developed in North Yemen and, initially, Rasulid rule of the south, based in Aden (Long, Reich and Gasiorowski 2011, p.207).
In the early 19th century, after further political upheavals, Yemen was divided between occupation of the North by the Ottoman Empire and the seizure of Aden by Britain in 1839. British occupation did little for the non-strategic rural areas of the South Yemen interior, where traditional tribal leadership was maintained.
The rest of this chapter will discuss how this historic background has led to the current, troubled political and economic context of Yemen. I will then look at theories of leadership and strategy in modern Yemen, at the tradition of entrepreneurial leadership, at new challenges, especially those arising from the crisis of the Gulf War and Yemeni civil war of 1994; and at the special case of women in modern Yemen. This will be investigated in more depth through case studies, and I will close by looking at the severe economic and social development challenges facing Yemen in the future.