The Political Economy of Energy Security in Wartime Yemen

Abstract The politics of energy provision and the governance of the electricity sector are well-studied topics. However, there is a gap in information when it comes to comprehending how violent conflict interacts with the political economy of the electricity and energy sector. This paper examines the relationship between energy provision and conflict within the context of the ongoing war in Yemen. It illustrates how developments in the conflict trajectory since the war’s onset in 2015 have shaped new forms of energy politics. These developments are reflected in fragmented institutional arrangements, transformed subsidy politics, adaptive grassroots solutions, and emergent war economies, all of which highlight the changing nature of energy security beyond conventional state-centric paradigms. The Yemeni case thus demonstrates an emerging energy landscape in which the sector and war dynamics are deeply intertwined and evolving simultaneously.