Calls for increased Western military support to Yemen to prevent the spread of terrorism are alarming. The cause of Yemen’s political crisis is not the rise of al-Qaeda or a lack of military power, but a gradual erosion of state authority. Kjetil Selvik argues that the survival strategies of the Yemeni regime have contributed to the weakening of the state, triggering a Zaydi Shia rebellion in the north and separatist currents in the south.

Seeking to fight al-Qaeda by propping up Ali Abdullah Saleh’s repressive regime is therefore likely to produce counterproductive results. Western governments would be wise not to deepen the country’s crisis by intervening militarily or further strengthening the repressive apparatus of the regime. Trying to enforce state authority in the absence of national unity and political legitimacy is what created the impasse in the first place.