The Reconceptualized War : A critical analysis of the new war theory through a case study of the Yemen War

Sammanfattning: The much-debated new war theory suggest that a new type of organized violence has developed during the last decades of the twentieth century. These new wars occur during an era of globalization and differ from old wars concerning four factors: the goals, the actors, the finance, and the methods. One of these new wars is the war in Yemen (2015-), a country divided and war torn, suffering the world's largest humanitarian crisis. The study aims to critically analyse the application of the new war theory through a qualitative singular case study of Yemen. The analysis shows that an understanding can be made about both Yemen and the theory. The Yemen War revolves around reinvented and/or rekindled particularistic identities, formerly kept under control, but now unleashed after years of exclusion, increasing economic gaps, the Arab Spring, and the dismantling of the central state during an era of globalization. The war took on decentralized characteristics, the Yemeni government lost its monopoly on violence leading to several state and non-state actors involved in the war. They are sometimes financed by external actors or through looting, racketeering, kidnapping, etc., all akin to the methods of new war warfare which sees civilians as the main victims. The study argues that an even greater understanding can be made by reformulating the theory as a process rather than as separate factors only showing the differences between new and old. The new war process shows the interconnectedness between the four factors, while simultaneously including other impactful new war terms and concepts such as globalization, the motives of war, and the reoccurring and persisting violence. Globalization then becomes part of the new war process rather than being a separate element.