Unlike Egypt and Tunisia, Yemen is a very backward nation. Situated on the southern end of the Arabian peninsula, this impoverished state has also been swept up in the Middle Eastern tide of revolutions.
Political skeptics point out that lasting reform, if any reform at all takes hold, will struggle far more to take root in this country. Notwithstanding the vocal opposition of intellectuals and political activists against the 23-year reign of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, numerous warring tribes in the vast rural outreaches of the country are demanding change from their government, too. Instead of favorin democratic processes with liberal Western values, these tribal leaders want to impose sharia law, which would make the current Saleh regime look like a liberal paradise in comparison.
Though these factions of middle class and tribe oppose the current corrupt autocratic regime, the war between them after removing Saleh from power would devaste to the region. This presently latent conflict would compromise liberalizing trends taking shape in the Middle East. From the power vacuum which would ensure between secular intellects and tribal chieftains, who knows what worse evil would manifest itself? Al-Qaeda has already directed a number of sinister operations from Yemen, where political instability would further afford them opportunities to branch out their terrorist networks.
The potential outcomes of the Middle Eastern populist revolts in Yemen underscore the caution that the world must exercise in evaluating the short and long-term effects of revolution in this part of the world.