Relative Deprivation as a Theoretical Framework for Explaining Yemen's Upheaval

Sparking the Middle East and North African (MENA) uprisings from Tunisia impressed other Arab countries in the region from 2011ts socio-economic and political deprivations as the most effective cause of onward. Upheavals connote of disappointment and frustration from the existing socio-economic and political situations. In spite of various common causes for the Arab uprisings this paper intends to spotlights socio-economic and political deprivation as the most effective cause for the Arab uprising in general and Yemen in particular. Yemen، one of the MENA countries، has been witnessing sever socio-economic deprivation and Abdullah Saleh''s despotic and authoritative rule for three decades. Suppression and ignoring the basic request s of Yemenis people brought them frustration and disappointment of any reform and change and led them to revolt against Saleh''s regime. Thus، the main aim in this paper is to highlight the Yemen''s pubic protests based on the relative deprivation theory of Ted Robert Gurr which considers deprivation as the main cause of turmoil in its various forms.