Abstract Book of the 3rd World Conference on Security Studies
Year: 2026
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Third-Party Intervention in Intrastate Wars: The Case of The Yemen Civil War
Ibrahim Akkan
ABSTRACT:
The conflict in Yemen, which started in 2014, has progressed from being a state internal political crisis to becoming a multifaceted regionalized and internationalized war, partly because of the presence of many intervening third-party actors. This research provides a systematic understanding of the effect of third-party interventions on conflict processes and conflict resolution. The main research question is: How have third-party interventions effected the dynamics of the Yemen conflict? The research method that is used in this study is qualitative research, which includes both document analysis and interviews with experts using a semi-structured interviewing approach. The study include the different types of intervention (military, economic, political, and humanitarian), and how they interact with each other. The research apply Neoclassical realism in international relations theories as a theoretical framework. These findings indicate that foreign interventions have not helped stabilize but actually prolonged, escalated, and fragmented the ongoing conflict. The conflicting interests of various regional or global actors, like Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, US, and international organizations, have led to the establishment of a fragmented power structure and undermined the attempts at resolving the conflict. A combination of different types of intervention has produced inconsistent results and led to increased violence, erosion of state institutions, and significant humanitarian crises. This paper comes to a conclusion that the experience of the Yemen conflict shows how important it is to adopt a holistic approach to analyze foreign interventions into intrastate wars.
Keywords: Civil war; Conflict prolongation; Middle East politics; Neoclassical realism; Proxy warfare; Regional order