This dissertation consists of three independent but related essays that explore political contention in Yemen. Each essay applies regression analysis techniques on a robust data set of Yemeni citizens collected in the months following a wave of large-scale political contention in the country. In the first essay, I increase empirical understanding of the relationship between traditional institutions and perceptions of state legitimacy in Yemen. To do this I explore the relationship between tribal and religious indicators and perceptions of legitimacy in Yemen. I show that both tribal and religious indicators significantly impact perceptions of confidence in government institutions and perceptions of the justness of these institutions and that these relationships are directly connected to inequalities in government inputs and outputs that are manifest along religious and tribal lines. In the second essay, I explore the micro-level mechanisms that relate to both attitudes regarding the validity of protest as a tactic of contention and participation in protest in Yemen. I focus on differences across gender in order to determine how the cultural context in which protestors operate affects these mechanisms. I show that cultural and religious gender norms significantly impact the mobilization process for men and women in Yemen, however, they do so in different ways. Specifically, my results show that for women in Yemen, religious networks are an important "free space" that predicts both attitudes about the validity of protest as a tactic of contention and the likelihood of engaging in this tactic.