الإصدار 2 - العدد 5 (2025-08-20)

Ansar Allah from Revolution to Ruling: A Political Sociological Study of Ansar Allah (Houthis) in Yemen (2000-2025)

Dr: Abdulmalik Muhammad Eissa

This political sociological research examines the radical transformation of the Ansar Allah movement (Houthis) in Yemen from a religious-cultural protest group that emerged under the banner of the Quranic March to an established political authority exercising governance over vast areas of northern Yemen during the period 2000-2025. The research employs a compound analysis that combines ideological, social, military, and regional political dimensions to explain how this group was formed as an institutional authoritarian actor in the context of state collapse and the disintegration of traditional elites.

The research reviews the stages of the movement's development, beginning with its Zidi social roots, through the Six Wars (2004-2010) that established its jihadist identity, its participation in the 2011 revolution, then its control over Sana'a in 2014 and the establishment of a parallel governance structure through the Supreme Revolutionary Committee and the Supreme Political Council after 2015. The research also addresses the movement's new regional roles in the Red Sea and its support for resistance movements in Gaza, highlighting its transformation from a local actor to part of the regional resistance axis.

The research findings demonstrate that Ansar Allah has reshaped the state and society in areas under its control through imposing a religious-revolutionary discourse, media and cultural engineering, and a mobilizational economic model based on jihad and zakat. It has built its legitimacy on a mixture of revolution, victimhood, and resistance rather than democratic references.

The study presents a cognitive model that explains this transformation based on the interaction of ideology with social conditions, wars, and regional policies. It indicates that the continuity of this model depends on finding a balance between ideological orientation and the requirements of the modern state. The study recommends the importance of developing new research and analytical tools to understand revolutionary Islamic movements and the need for a societal approach that seeks to rebuild the social contract in post-conflict Yemen.