Conclusion: Coercion, Managed Pluralism, and Legitimacy

Abstract

As it presides over a country with considerable regional differences, well-armed tribes, and a somewhat tenuous unity that has already taken the country to civil war once, the Yemeni regime can ill afford the brutality of some of its regional counterparts. The regime must complement its coercive power by working to balance—or rather keep off-balance—alternative political and social forces that might seek to counter its strength. It has demonstrated its preference for the style of combat used by a judo fighter, where the aim is less to deliver a knockout blow to opponents than to harness their strength and redirect it against them.¹