Al-Mughallas examines the missed opportunities in achieving social cohesion in Yemen, particularly between 1990—the date of Yemen’s unification—and 2012. Within this context, the author investigates the political, social, economic, and cultural challenges inhibiting social integration in the country. Following unification, al-Mughallas stresses that Yemenis did not oppose the achievement of genuine national integration, but that the state policy, formulated by the ruling elites, has led to both the depletion of the potential for national unity and the hampering of a modern Yemeni state. Yemen’s ruling elites not only exploited the country’s social diversity, but also dragged its population into its struggles, reinforced the tribal system at the expense of other social groups, and failed to establish an equitable distribution of resources and development. Ultimately, the state’s efforts were limited to a meager, formal, top-down process of integration, which prioritized the aims and desires of the elites at the expense of achieving genuine social integration. For Al-Mughallas, the biggest barrier currently facing social integration in Yemen is, and will remain, poverty, a challenge that is inciting further social conflict and weakening Yemen’s ability to overcome division and fragmentation. He argues that the political conflicts that draw on different segments of Yemeni society, propelled by tribal and sectarian motives, represent another key impediment to social peace and political stability. Finally, foreign interferences not only intervene in the affairs of the state, but are directly destabilizing the social balance between different factions of Yemeni society. The author concludes that the drive toward a modern national state free from external meddling and the hindrance of tribalism, and which prioritizes justice and development, is fundamental to the realization of unity and cohesion in Yemeni society.