The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Islamic Publications Ltd.
The Huthi rebels in Yemen are a resistance movement going back decades. Their coup against Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in 2015 - and the subsequent Yemeni civil war and the intervention of the Arab coalition in support of Hadi - has brought absolute devastation to the country. But who are the Huthis and how can we understand the group away from armed conflict and war? What has motivated their social movement to fundamentally re-shape Yemen, and what are the group’s local and regional ambitions?
This book provides the first comprehensive critical analysis dedicated to the Huthis. Across four parts and 17 chapters, the book examines how the movement is challenging traditional religious authority, re-shaping tribal values and roles in Yemen, constructing new collective memories and identities, and infusing Yemen’s mediascape with their ideological creed. In examining the movement’s specific ways of thinking and beliefs, the book also highlights its foreign policy within a regional policy of resistance to the United States, and it points towards what its impact on both Yemen and the security of the Arab Gulf region will be. The book brings together the leading experts on Yemen from diverse disciplines to provide readers with a nuanced and multi-layered approach to understanding the Huthi movement.
Introduction, Abdullah Hamidaddin, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Saudi Arabia I. Huthi Ideology and the Belief System 1. On the Nature of Huthi Religious and Political Authority and its Relationship to Zaydism, Bernard Haykel, Princeton University, USA 2. Transformation of Dominant Political Themes from the Founder to the Current Leader of the Huthi Movement, Mohammed Almahfali, Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Sweden 3. The “Soft War” and the past: The Huthi movement’s use of historical narratives as source of legitimacy, Alexander Weissenburger, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria II. Reconfiguring Yemen’s Society 4. Tribes and Rulers, 3.0 Dominance and the “Subaltern” in Huthi Yemen Marieke Brandt, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria 5. Women under the Huthi regime: gender, Islam and nationalism, Ewa Strzelecka, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands 6. Huthi Influence on Education: An Investigation of Interventions and Policies, Shaker Lashuel, Yemeni American News, USA 7. Propaganda, Creativity, and Diplomacy: The Huthis’ Adaptive Approach to Media and Public Messaging, Hannah Porter, DT Global, USA 8. The Huthi zamil: folk literature or propaganda?, Emily Sumner, University of Minnesota, USA III. Re-Engineering the State 9. State” and Coercive Power in Yemen: The Huthis and the Tribal-Sectarian Field, Anthony Chimente, Gulf State Analytics, USA 10. Huthi Visions of the State: A Huthi Republic with an Unofficial Imam, Charles Schmitz, Towson University, USA 11. Becoming the state: How Ansar Allah took over and adapted formal institutions at the local level, Joshua Rogers, Berghof Foundation, Germany IV. Regional Impact 12. Hybrid Warfare: Lessons from the Sa`udi-led Coalition's Intervention in Yemen 2015-2022?, James Spencer, British-Yemeni Society 13. The Yemeni-Saudi Border: The ?uthis and The Evolution of Hybrid Security Governance, Eleonora Ardemagni, Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), Italy 14. More than a proxy: the Huthis as a non-state actor with a foreign policy?, Maria-Louise Clausen, Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Denmark
ABDULLAH HAMIDADDIN is a researcher on Middle Eastern societies, politics and religion with a focus on Saudi Arabia and Yemen. He is currently Senior Research Fellow, director of the Yemen Program at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. He had previously chaired Imam Zaid bin Ali Cultural Foundation, an NGO concerned with the preservation of Yemen’s manuscript heritage. His books include Tweeted Heresies: Saudi Islam in Transformation (2019), Harmonious Being (Al-Kaynuna al-Mutanaghima) published in 2012 and Zaydism (Al-Zaydiyya) published in 2010. He obtained his PhD in Social Anthropology from King’s College London.
Reviews for The Huthi Movement in Yemen: Ideology, Ambition and Security in the Arab Gulf
[The Huthi Movement in Yemen] serves as an authoritative body of work for those looking for a broad overview of who the Houthis are and why they will remain a key player in Yemen's political and cultural scene for years to come. * Middle East Monitor *
