Beyond the Arab Cold War: the international history of the Yemen civil war, 1962–68

Abstract

With the single word ‘beyond’, Asher Orkaby skilfully signals his intention in the title of this history of the Yemeni civil war fought between 1962 and 1968. The phrase it qualifies, ‘the Arab Cold War’, refers to a book of the same title by Malcolm H. Kerr, published by Chatham House in 1965—a title that has come to represent the era of conflict in the Arab world from the rise of Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1952 to his death in 1970. Generally, this era is not seen as part of the broader Cold War, the contest between East and West as represented by the United States and the USSR. Instead, the Arab Cold War was a period of conflict largely between Arab nationalist republics—such as Egypt under Nasser—and the traditionalist monarchies—such as Saudi Arabia under King Faisal bin Abdulaziz al Saud. Orkaby wants to move readers beyond this narrower scope and into a broader perspective that takes into account roles played by international actors in the Yemeni conflict.