Soft Power of Aspiring Middle Eastern Powers towards Yemen: the Case of Saudi Arabia and Iran

The multiple engagements of the Middle East powers (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey) are self-evident, mainly in the case of hard power tools use. However, the disposition of foreign interference in Yemen is multifaced. The current research has primarily focused on individual military or economic activities, and the non-material sources of power were left behind. Therefore, this article aims to explore the nature of cultural-ideological influence the aforementioned countries assert towards Yemeni population. To find out whether they conduct the cultural-ideological influence, within each particular analysis, we focused on three ostensibly distinct areas of cultural-ideological activities – education, religion, and media. In most of the cases, it was possible to detect at least one significant cultural-ideological activity the Middle East powers exercise towards Yemen.