Module 7 - Conflict drivers: Power and representation
Power and representation
Introduction
After 33 years of power, President Ali Abdullah Saleh abdicated in 2011, following eleven months of protests led by unemployed citizens across the country. Afterwards, Yemen entered on an internationally supported transition process in major social and political segments of the society. Even if hopes for peace and more participatory governance rest on the National Dialogue, the transition process was criticised and implemented long-standing disputes, for example between northern and southern Yemenis. The country is currently experiencing several defined conflicts, each driven by different factors and causes.
Violent conflicts are about politics, power and contestation between actors and shaping of institutions for the benefit of some: to analyze a conflict in this regard, we can use models to visualize ideas. In this elearning paper, we decide to choose to work with the conflict tree model, which visualizes various causes of a conflict and their resulting effects. This model enables amongst others journalists and scholars to visualise and thus analyze the causes and the effects of the conflict they wish to cover. By separating both, while joining them through a core problem, it can open up a path towards conflict resolution. The conflict tree deals with the difference between structural and dynamic factors as well, visualizing how conflict issues link these two aspects. First of all, the roots of the tree represent the root causes of a conflict and the effects of the ones which cannot be directly linked back to them immediately. At this point, we have the foundation of a core problem, which is the problem the conflict is involved in. Subsequently, the trunk of the tree represents the core problem, which insinuates that the existence of the issue is more visible at the surface of the conflict. That means that arguments and discussion will take place around this/these issue(s). Lastly, the branches of the tree represent the effects of the conflict: it can help the scholar or the researcher to link the conflict and its causes together.
This analysis tool helps us to better understand a conflict and to differentiate between causes and symptoms, so amongst others journalists and scholars can dig deeper and go beyond the visible parts of a conflict. In like manner, it gives us the possibility to become more aware about the various dimensions of the conflict and be able to evaluate the solutions discussed. Depending on the conflict, it can serve as an initial step in preparation for later steps of analysis, such as systems mapping [1].
Keywords: Analysis tool, visualizing ideas, contestation, institutions, transition process
It is possible to define some facts about the Yemeni society as root causes for the problems linked to the topic of power and representation in the Yemeni conflict. As explained in many articles, the situation in Yemen has appeared in a certain context. Among the most important factors that are to be discussed in that topic, it is crucial to address the question of the state in Yemen.
In the 1990s, Yemen was actually meant to become a good example of a middle east country turning into a democratic, multiparty system. However, the Yemeni government did never succeed in controlling and installing stable institutions in some parts of the country [1]. The symptoms of that development in the current Yemeni system are, among others:
- North-South Divide: the state was able to maintain its power on parts of the country which has led to a geographical cleavage between the north and south part of Yemen.
- Lack of discussion between the groups since there was a disconnection between the stat-controlled part of the country and the one that was governed by the tribal system.
- Lack of public services that led to a very difficult situation in the south that was marginalized by the Saleh regime. Also, it led to huge inequalities in the access to resources.
2. Core Problem
This leads to the definition of those two main topics. The question of power is central in the Yemeni conflict for obvious reasons: since the government became more and more criticised, it slowly cut access to power for the rest of the population. This is of course interconnected with the crucial lack of representation of a vast part of the population which is suffering from the disconnection of the government.
3. Effects
Although it is difficult to assess to what extent a situation is to be explained with a precise factor, it is safe to say that the questions of power and representation played at least an important role in the development of the conflict. Among many effects, we can note that
- The clashes, even military as well as the difficulty faced by any attempt to find unity in the country, for instance by the NDC, have to do with the long-standing disconnection between the population and the power. The current struggle of many actors to get more power is of course a strong vector of conflict.
- The emergence of new groups and movements, such as the Youth Movement clearly demonstrate that major parts of the population have suffered from a lack of representation under the former Yemeni system, so that violence has became for many the only possibility to be heard.
Conclusion
In sum, we can conclude that the power and representation issues during the Yemeni Civil War can be explained through a conflict tree. As we saw above, the conflict tree is a visualizing and sorting tree, which visualises the interaction between various types of factors and aims to initiate reflections on the links between root causes, issues and core problems and differentiate time horizons of various conflict transformation approaches.
The causes of conflict we developed above are political issues, involving power, contestation between actors and shaping of institutions for the benefit of some and at the expense of others as well. In this way, it is crucial to adopt different approaches when engaging in an analysis to understand how the conflict has developed over time: to this extent, this means that the researcher has to look at the outcomes as well as the conflict causes.
Although this analysis system enables to better understand the causes related to power and representation and their consequences on the Yemeni conflict. However, this conflict has to be analysed through other dimensions including the question of gender which will be discussed in the next module.
Bibliography and Documentation
[1] Woodrow, P (2012) “Conflict Analysis Framework.” Norwegian Church Aid.https://www.kpsrl.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/363_conflict_analysis_framework_field_guidelines.pdf.
[2] Cf. Clausen M.L. (2015). Understanding the Crisis in Yemen:Evaluating Competing Narratives, The International Spectator, 50:3, 16-29.
Ramsbotham, O., Woodhouse, T., & Miall, H. (2011). Contemporary Conflict Resolution (3rd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Polity. Retrieved 2020.
Woodward, S. L. (2007). Do the root causes of civil war matter? On using knowledge to improve peacebuilding interventions. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 1(2), 143-70.
Clausen, M-L (2015). Understanding the Crisis in Yemen:Evaluating Competing Narratives, The International Spectator, 50:3, 16-29.
Woodrow, P (2012) “Conflict Analysis Framework.” Norwegian Church Aid.https://www.kpsrl.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/363_conflict_analysis_framework_field_guidelines.pdf.
https://beyond-peace.com/tools-of-conflict-analysis-in-theory-and-practice-the-conflict-tree-model/
https://css.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/pdfs/Conflict-Analysis-Tools.pdf