Revolution and Foreign Policy: The Case of South Yemen, 1967-1987 by Fred Halliday

Revolution and Foreign Policy: The Case of South Yemen, 1967-1987 Reviews

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  Initially published in 1990, Fred Halliday’s Revolution and Foreign Policy seeks to understand South Yemen's (PDRY) foreign policy after its independence in 1967 and before its unification with North Yemen in 1990. He argues that despite its small size and struggling economy, Yemen exerted a foreign policy dictated by its own internal factors rather than instituting policies desired by more powerful nations such as the USSR. Halliday argues that this is unique as many newly independently socialist nations relied heavily on external sources and thus shaped their foreign policy to ensure that support.
  Halliday's first two chapters detail the development of the PDRY through its two decades of existence. Halliday pays attention to the role that decolonization had on political developments within the National Liberation Front and its socialist policy, which impacted foreign policy decisions, such as funding revolutionary groups in neighbouring nations such as Oman. Such decisions came at the detriment of relations with those governments. As well, Halliday examines the factionalism which plagued Yemen’s government. This factionalism was partly due to the lack of government experience, which resulted in competing visions for the path that South Yemen should take. Halliday aptly points out that although the PDRY was free of colonial rule, they remained constrained by their neighbours' events and decisions, which influenced the PDRY’s ability to implement economic and political policies. However, this did not stop the PDRY’s from supporting groups that antagonized their relationships with such countries, thereby exerting agency in foreign policy.
  In the next few chapters, Halliday discusses specific foreign relationships with various countries, including; capitalist countries such as Britain, France, and America; North Yemen; and the communist nations of the USSR and China. These chapters reveal interesting dynamics in South Yemen’s foreign policy. For example, the PDRY maintained a tense relationship with Britain over Britain’s failure to keep on their promises over pensions after they withdrew in 1967. Similarly, America’s backing of royalist nations in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, problematized their relationship with the PDRY. Most importantly, his discussion around the PDRY's partnerships with China and the USSR demonstrates that the nations failed to direct the PDRY's policies.
  Halliday's book provides a critical analysis to understand the agency that the PDRY exerted in their foreign policy decisions after gaining independence. Halliday convincingly demonstrates that the PDRY took a different than many other Third World nations who had their policies dictated by larger allied nations. Whether or not South Yemen's decision to pursue this was the benefit of their nation and its people is not discussed in length. In fact, this book's weakness is the lack of attention paid to Yemeni citizens who experienced the revolution and two decades of the policies of the new regime. Apart from a short paragraph in Halliday's conclusion where he describes what Aden, the capital of South Yemen, looked like after British withdrawal, very little analysis is given on the Yemeni population and their role, or lack thereof, in foreign policy. This would have provided another interesting layer of analysis and provided knowledge on Yemeni people, not just elites who dictated foreign policy.
  Halliday's argument is supported by a wealth of sources, both primary and secondary. Sources include personal interviews he conducted during his many visits to Yemen in the period, government publications from the PDRY, America, Britain, and numerous newspapers. Secondary publications include Arabic sources, a testament to Halliday's proficiency in the language. These sources help to convince readers that South Yemen was a unique nation in their ability to retain agency in their foreign relationships after the revolution.