Bates College Journal of Political Studies
Abstract
This article argues that the Saudi Arabian military's inability to achieve its goals in its war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen is largely the result of the relationship dynamics between the country's civilian and military institutions. For decades, this relationship has been defined by extensive coup-proofing on behalf of the Saudi civilian monarchy that has weakened some of its military's capabilities and fundamentally affected its battlefield quality. Through exploring specific cases of the Saudi military's performance in Yemen and incorporating relevant literature on coup-proofing and the civil-military problematique, this article contends that a country's military performance cannot be analyzed outside the context of the relationship between that country's civilian and military institutions.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Richards, Zachariah
(2025)
"Exploring Saudi Arabia’s Failed War in Yemen Through a Civil-Military Relations Lens,"
Bates College Journal of Political Studies: Vol. 2:
Iss.
1, Article 15.
Available at:
https://scarab.bates.edu/bjps/vol2/iss1/15