Analysing state feminism requires conceptualising together women’s movements and the state. Thus applying the RNGS’s conceptual model beyond the context of post-industrial countries requires a more thorough examination of the nature of the state. Indeed, tools that “capture both the outside aspects of women’s movements as well as its capacity for institutionalisation from the inside” (Mazur, McBride and Hoard, 2012) imply a clear distinction between what is inside and what is outside. Such a divide is blurred in patrimonial states like Yemen. Hence distinguishing between mobilisation outside and institutionalisation inside the state becomes a methodological challenge. Besides, the “politics of permanent crisis” (Phillips, 2011) hinders public policies’ implementation in Yemen. The paper explores the methodological specificities of an analysis of state feminism in a patrimonial state in crisis through a case study on feminist demands for women’s political representation during the Yemeni National Dialogue Conference in 2013.
