Justifying military intervention: Yemen as a failed state

In this new article in Third World Quarterly, Maria-Louise Clausen argues that the Saudi-led military intervention into Yemen has been facilitated by the Saudi effort to portray Yemen as a failed state.

The article traces the development of the failed state concept. The development was spearheaded by the US and especially gained credence following the war on terror. This way the failed state concept became securitized, specifically linking internal security threat to external solutions. Failed states are presented as a threat to global security and international interveners as external saviors with a moral duty to save non-Western victims.

In this analysis, it is shown how the failed state concept is now utilized by non-Western states to justify military interventions through an analysis of the Saudi-led military intervention into Yemen. The military intervention began in March 2015 and has been carried out by a coalition of non-Western states, but headed by Saudi Arabia, an aspiring regional great power.
The aim of the intervention was formulated as an obligation to defend the legitimate government and the Yemeni people. However, reality is that the intervention has played a substantial role in driving Yemen into the world’s largest current humanitarian crisis.

Thus, the main argument of the article is that an already established image of Yemen as a chaotic state that threatens regional and international security - and is therefore legitimately dealt with through external military intervention - has been utilized by Saudi Arabia to justify the military intervention into Yemen to Western audiences.