The 1962 coup d'état in North Yemen initiated one of the most debilitating Middle East conflicts ever, the eight-year civil war in North Yemen. This conflict in an obscure corner of the Arab world eventually assumed global importance, attracting the attention of the superpowers and the United Nations. This book focuses on the Yemeni civil war's impact at the regional level, where it provoked enmity between two influential Arab states, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Dr. Badeeb argues that for Egypt, the war constituted a means of intensifying and confirming its role as the leader of the revolutionary camp in the Arab world. For Saudi Arabia, however, it presented a direct challenge to the security and stability of the kingdom. Dr. Badeeb provides a valuable elucidation of Saudi Arabia's concern over Yemen as a potential source of political and strategic upheaval. This lately unappreciated aspect of the regional security picture is in part a legacy of the Saudi-Egyptian conflict of the 1960s and is one of the central elements of current Saudi security policy.
Biography
Saeed M. Badeeb was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After earning a B.A. in 1971 and an M.A. in 1975 from the University of Karachi, Pakistan, in 1983 he received a Master of Philosophy degree and in 1985 a Ph.D. from The George Washington University. His fields of specialization were International Relations and Comparative Government and Politics. From 1972 to 1975 Badeeb served as First Secretary of the Saudi Government Advisory Council (Royal Court). From 1980 to 1984 he served as a political adviser in the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C. He is currently a deputy minister without portfolio in the government of Saudi Arabia.
