Drawing on research carried out on the ground in Yemen, this Adelphi examines the shadowy structures that govern political life and sustain a network of social elites predisposed against any far-reaching systemic reform. It looks behind the scenes at the regime’s opaque internal politics, at its entrenched patronage system and at the ‘rules of the game’ that will shape the behaviour of the post-Saleh rulers, to offer insights for how the West may better engage within that game