This note is the second of two background notes that DeepRoot Consulting is publishing to inform the current discourse on decentralisation in Yemen. The two notes are intended to be read together, and to provide a common factual and analytical baseline for political actors, Yemeni officials, and international partners considering the place of decentralisation in ongoing governance reform and in any future political settlement.
The present note (Background Note 2) reconstructs the federal state form agreed at the National Dialogue Conference (NDC) of 2013–2014 and how it was translated into the 2015 Draft Constitution of the New Yemen. It synthesises the divergent views advanced by academics and practitioners — both those who supported the federalisation agenda and those who criticised it — and considers the relevant analytical lessons. The companion note (Background Note 1) covers the application of decentralisation in Yemen from the 1990 unity and the formation of the Republic of Yemen through the enactment of Law No. 4 of 2000 and up to the 2011 uprising, synthesising the analytical assessments and reform recommendations advanced by the principal Yemeni and international scholars and practitioners who engaged with the system during that period.
The present note proceeds in five parts: (i) the political and procedural origins of the federalism decision; (ii) the substantive content of the NDC outcomes on state form; (iii) the translation of the NDC outcomes into the 2015 Draft Constitution; (iv) the divergent assessments advanced by academics and practitioners; and (v) the principal analytical lessons and recommendations for any future engagement with the federal question. The literature drawn on is listed in full at the end of the note.