Through its Publication Support Fund, YCAR is pleased to support Nalini Persram’s forthcoming book, “Post-Revolutionary Reckoning in Yemen Under Saudi Arabian Bomb” (Palgrave 2022).

The book consists of two broad themes, one permeated by a political argument about legitimacy as strategic rhetoric for the international military intervention in this Arab republic, the other encompassing a new theoretical analysis of the conflict through the categories of Badiou’s theory of the Event. The study, which includes contributions by Abdulqadir Al Emad, begins with an account of the socio-economic and political situation in Yemen leading up to 2011, the year of the Revolution of Dignity by protesters, and of the “Arab Spring” in the region. An examination of the Saudi-led coalition’s intervention against Ansar Allah in 2015 follows with questions posed about the legitimacy of both the bombing of Yemenis, and the authority of the current state government in Yemen. The phenomenon of Ansar Allah, commonly known as the “Houthis”—their struggle against the former regime’s persecution and against the present regime’s mismanagement of the state, and their shocking rise to power—and their manner of governance is explored. How are we to read the politics surrounding Ansar Allah given Iranian support of their cause (of great concern to the international community) and seizure of the seat of government, alongside their rejection of Western imperialism and regional expansion, and the endorsement of Houthi authority by much of the population? The conceptual categories pertaining to the “Event” as elaborated in the work of Alain Badiou provide a provocative response.  

For more information on the YCAR Publication Support Fund, please click here.