FROM CONSTITUTIONAL LEGITIMACY TO ‘JARWALAH’: HOUTHI CRIMES IN THE SYSTEMATIC ERASURE OF YEMEN’S STATE IDENTITY
من الشرعية الدستورية إلى "الجَرْوَلَة": جرائم الحوثيين للمحو الممنهج لهوية الدولة اليمنية
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64757/alqanatir.2025.3408/1326Keywords:
Houthi, Yemen, Ideology, Jarwalah, JarudiyyaAbstract
This study critically analyzes the ideological and political project of the Houthi movement in Yemen, positing that its practices are not mere by-products of conflict but a systematic application of a totalitarian ideology aimed at dismantling the state and forcibly re-engineering society. The paper coins a new explanatory term, ‘Jarwalah,’ to define this phenomenon as a hybrid system that fuses the Jarudiyya Imamate doctrine, based on lineal supremacy, with the political and mobilization mechanisms of the Iranian ‘Wilayat al-Faqih’ model. This project constitutes a radical rupture with Yemen’s social contract and republican constitution. Employing a three-dimensional qualitative methodology, the research combines a critical discourse analysis of the movement's foundational texts (the 'Malazim' of Hussein al-Houthi), a comparative legal-constitutional analysis, and an in-depth review of reports from the UN Panel of Experts, international organizations, and academic literature. The findings reveal a dual Houthi strategy: the systematic dismantling of state institutions paralleled by an organized assault on society's future through child recruitment, the ideologization of education, and the deliberate destruction of essential services. The study concludes that the 'Jarwalah' project amounts to 'sociocide': a methodical attempt to erase the collective identity of a nation. As such, it not only represents an existential threat to the Yemeni state but also fundamentally undermines any prospect for a just and sustainable peace.
ملخص البحث
تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تقديم تحليل نقدي للمشروع العقدي والفكري لجماعة الحوثي في اليمن، حيث أنه ليس مجرد نتاج ثانوي للصراع، بل هو تطبيق منهجي لأيديولوجيا شمولية تستهدف تفكيك الدولة وإعادة هندسة المجتمع قسراً. تقترح الورقة مصطلحاً جديداً ومفسِّراً هو "الجَرْوَلَة (Jarwalah)، لوصف هذه الظاهرة بوصفها منظومة هجينة تدمج عقيدة "الإمامة الجارودية" القائمة على الاصطفاء السلالي، مع الآليات التعبوية والسياسية لنموذج "ولاية الفقيه" الإيراني. ويشكل هذا المشروع قطيعة جذرية مع العقد الاجتماعي والدستور الجمهوري لليمن. تعتمد الدراسة على منهجية تجمع بين التحليل النقدي للخطاب للنصوص التأسيسية للحركة (ملازم حسين الحوثي)، والتحليل القانوني الدستوري المقارن، والمراجعة المعمقة لتقارير فريق خبراء الأمم المتحدة، والمنظمات الدولية، والدراسات الأكاديمية. تكشف النتائج عن استراتيجية حوثية مزدوجة: تفكيك منهجي لمؤسسات الدولة، بالتوازي مع هجوم منظم على مستقبل المجتمع عبر تجنيد الأطفال، وأدلجة التعليم، وتدمير الخدمات الأساسية. تخلص الدراسة إلى أن مشروع "الجَرْوَلَة" يرقى إلى مستوى جريمة "الإبادة المجتمعية" أي محاولة محو الهوية الجمعية للأمة. وبذلك، فهو لا يمثل تهديداً وجودياً للدولة اليمنية فحسب، بل يقوّض بشكل أساسي أي إمكانية لتحقيق سلام عادل ومستدام
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