This study focuses on South Yemen's attempts to instigate, maintain and defend a revolutionary process in its neighboring regions during 1970–1985. It also analyzes the elites' strategy-making according to their known cultural, social and political inclinations.

A small and extremely poor Islamic country, Yemen is located on the edge of the Arab world in the southernmost corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It was the product of the unification of the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in May 1990. The location of the two Yemens on the world's busiest sea-lane at the southern end of the Red Sea where Asia almost meets Africa gave them strategic significance from the start of the age of imperialism through the Cold War. More vital today is the fact that Yemen shares a long border with oil-rich Saudi Arabia and is a key to efforts both to spread and to end global revolutionary Islam and its use of terror. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Yemen has been thoroughly updated and greatly expanded. Through its list of acronyms and abbreviations, a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 800 cross-referenced dictionary entries, greater attention has been given to foreign affairs, economic institutions and policies, social issues, religion, and politics.

Yemen, tucked into the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, has often escaped regional and international attention. And yet its history illuminates some of the most important issues at play in the modern Middle East: from Cold War rivalries to the growth of Islamic extremism in the 1990s, and from the rise of 'Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula' (AQAP) in the post-9/11 period to Obama-era drone strikes. Uzi Rabi looks at this country and its economic and political history through the prism of state failure. He examines Yemen's trajectory from revolutions and civil war in the 1960s to unification in the 1990s and on to the 2011 uprisings which eventually saw the fall from power of Ali Abdallah Salih in 2012. Covering the twentieth-century history of Yemen from traditional society to a melting-pot of revolutions accompanied by foreign intervention, Uzi Rabi's book offers an analysis of a state that is failing, both in terms of day-to-day functioning, and in terms of offering its citizens a modicum of security. Rabi covers the initial rulers of the country, Imam Yahya and his descendents, who ruled Yemen until 1962. But with the growing influence of Gamal Abd al-Nasser's vision of Arab nationalism, and the defeat the British and their allies in November 1967, the way was paved for the formation of South Yemen: the only declared Marxist regime in the Arab world. Rabi tracks the turbulent political history of the two Yemens, in particular South Yemen, which between 1967 and 1986 saw five presidents come and go, three of whom were ousted by violent means. But with unification came a new set of problems concerning poverty, terrorism and corruption. Rabi's analysis of the political beginnings, rule and eventual downfall of Salih are key to understanding all of these, and how they have contributed to Yemen's current explosive condition. Drawing extensively on Arabic sources, many of which are not available in the English language, Rabi offers important analysis on the volatility of the state in Yemen. Based on freshly examined materials, this book is a vital reference of any examination of the country's twentieth-century history and its impact on the current unstable situation in the wider Middle East.

"Yemen is the dark horse of the Middle East. Every so often it enters the headlines for one alarming reason or another -- links with al-Qaeda, kidnapped Westerners, explosive population growth -- then sinks into obscurity again. But, as Victoria Clark argues in this riveting book, we ignore Yemen at our peril. The poorest state in the Arab world, it is still dominated by its tribal makeup and has become a perfect breeding ground for insurgent and terrorist movements. Clark returns to the country where she was born to discover a perilously fragile state that deserves more of our understanding and attention. On a series of visits to Yemen between 2004 and 2009, she meets politicians, influential tribesmen, oil workers and jihadists as well as ordinary Yemenis. Untangling Yemen's history before examining the country's role in both al-Qaeda and the wider jihadist movement today, Clark presents a lively, clear, and up-to-date account of a little-known state whose chronic instability is increasingly engaging the general reader"--Publisher description.

This comprehensive analysis documents the military forces in each Middle Eastern country at the end of the Cold War. Cordesman discusses security developments and provides a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the strength and effectiveness of every army, navy, air force, and air defence force in the region. He further assesses post-Cold War modernization and expansions plans and each country's internal security situations, the role the military plays in its government and internal tensions and civil wars. Special attention is paid to Iran and Iraq and the author examines the military changes in both countries as responses to the Iran-Iraq and the First Gulf War. After the Storm is unique in combining the evaluation of conventional forces with assessments of developments in biological, chemical and nuclear weapons and provides a coherent picture of the state of the military in the Middle East in the early 1990s. Summary tables and charts present keys statistics for the region, formatted to allow quick country by country comparisons.

Assesses the reign of Sa'id bin Taymur, who was deposed by his son, Qabus bin Sa'id, in a coup in July 1970. This title refutes the view that Sa'id's four-decade reign should be perceived as a place where time stood still. It looks at the economic, political, social and cultural aspects of Oman during the reign of Sa'id bin Taymur.

Assesses the reign of Sa'id bin Taymur, who was deposed by his son, Qabus bin Sa'id, in a coup in July 1970. This title refutes the view that Sa'id's four-decade reign should be perceived as a place where time stood still. It looks at the economic, political, social and cultural aspects of Oman during the reign of Sa'id bin Taymur.

Combining elements of comparative politics with a country-by-country analysis, author David S. Sorenson provides a complete and accessible introduction to the modern Middle East. With an emphasis on the politics of the region, the text also dedicates chapters specifically to the history, religions, and economies of countries in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, the Eastern Mediterranean, and North Africa. In each country chapter, a brief political history is followed by discussions of democratization, religious politics, women's issues, civil society, economic development, privatization, and foreign relations. In this updated and revised second edition, An Introduction to the Modern Middle East includes new material on the Arab Spring, the changes in Turkish politics, the Iranian nuclear issues, and the latest efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma. Introductory chapters provide an important thematic overview for each of the book's individual country chapters and short vignettes throughout the book offer readers a chance for personal reflection.

This book provides a detailed analysis of China's foreign policy towards the Gulf and Arabian peninsula region from the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to the end of the 20th century. Based on extensive original research, it looks at the relations between China and each of the countries of the region over the entire period. It demonstrates that two key factors have shaped China's foreign policy with the region - China's relations with the United States and the Soviet Union, and China's drive to increase its economic ties with the countries of the region, especially after becoming a net importer of oil in the early 1990s.

Radical ideologies may manifest differently at first, but they do follow a similar logic: truth claims, promises of salvation and a unifying common enemy. In Yemen's transition process today, the secessionist movement Al-Hirak has summoned the spirit of South Yemen, the only Marxist state in Arabia. This book meticulously describes how East Germany supported the implantation of this alien ideology in Yemen through its policy of »Socialist state- and nation-building«. In the same breath, the analysis captures the GDR's activities in the Middle East and their vital role in Moscow's Cold War strategy. Last but least, the study provides one of the few compact overviews of East German foreign policy in the English language of today.