The European Union’s external action in Yemen (2011-2020): A study of the EU’s crisis management toolbox and actorness in Yemeni crisis between 2011 and 2020.

Yemen has repeatedly been singled out as host to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The Middle East’s only democratic nation is the most populous and also its poorest. Moreover, the situation in Yemen has considerably deteriorated since 2014 following the Houthi revolt against Yemen’s internationally recognised government and subsequent military intervention by a Saudi-led international coalition. Blockades, air strikes, and constant fighting have plunged the country into a dire situation with outbreaks of diseases, the threat of famine, destroyed infrastructure, and a failing health system and economy. This is coupled with an increasingly complex internal state of play involving a myriad of domestic and international actors and complicating the task of finding a suitable solution. Meanwhile, the EU has been actively developing its foreign policy in order to improve its coherency, consistency, efficiency, and integration, with the aim increasing its credibility on the global stage, including its role as a major actor in the realm of conflict and crisis management and response. Nonetheless, despite its ambitions in this regard, the EU has been diffident at times, not assuming any plainly discernible leading role in the undeniably critical Yemeni crisis. Does it reveal a certain inability on behalf of the EU in applying its concepts and strategies on the ground; the exposure of intrinsic factors hindering its external action? A strong and convincing EU presence in Yemen (a major 21st century crisis) could bolster the EU’s ambitions and credibility. Has the situation proven too complex? Is EU overshadowed by other powers? Are the approaches, strategies, and tools developed by the EU ill-adapted to practice? Have other policy domains – notably armament and its tenacious intergovernmental nature – prevented more coherent and far-reaching measures? Or is the EU in fact more present than immediately apparent, suggesting a more discreet strategy by the EU; a “behind-the-scenes” approach?