Businessmen in Arms

How the Military and Other Armed Groups Profit in the MENA Region

Foreword by Robert Springborg Edited by Elke Grawert, Zeinab Abul-Magd

Not available to order

Publication date:

29 April 2016

Length of book:

310 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442254565

The Arab Uprisings have brought renewed attention to the role of the military in the MENA region, where they are either the backbone of regime power or a crucial part of patronage networks in political systems. This collection of essays from international experts examines the economic interests of armed actors ranging from military businesses in Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Jordan, Sudan, and Yemen to retired military officers’ economic endeavors and the web of funding of non-state armed groups in Syria and Libya. Due to the combined power of business and arms, the military often manages to incorporate or quell competing groups and thus, to revert achievements of revolutionary movements.

List of Figures and Tables
Foreword
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Political Economy of the Military and Non-State Armed Groups in the Middle East and North Africa, by Elke Grawert
Chapter 1: Egypt’s Adaptable Officers: Business, Nationalism, and Discontent, by Zeinab Abul-Magd
Chapter 2: Businessmen in Boots – Pakistan’s Entrepreneurial Military, by Ayesha Siddiqa
Chapter 3: The Conglomerate of the Turkish Military (OYAK) and the Dynamics of Turkish Capitalism, by İsmet Akça
Chapter 4: All the Sepah's Men: Iran's Revolutionary Guards in Theory and Practice, by Kevan Harris
Chapter 5: Jordan’s Military-Industrial Sector: Maintaining Institutional Prestige in the Era of Neoliberalism, by Shana Marshall
Chapter 6: Civil-Military Relations in Sudan: Negotiating Political Transition in a Turbulent Economy, by Atta El-Battahani
Chapter 7: Patronage Politics in Transition: Political and Economic Interests of the Yemeni Armed Forces, by Adam C. Seitz
Chapter 8: Libya’s Tentative State Rebuilding: Militias' “Moral Economy,” Violence, and Financing (In)Security, by Philippe Droz-Vincent
Chapter 9: Syria’s Army, Militias, and Non-State Armed Groups: Ideology, Funding, and Shifting Landscape, by Sherifa Zuhur
Conclusion and Outlook, by Elke Grawert
Appendix
A: Glossary of Arab Words
B: Maps
C: Tables
D: References
List of Contributors
Index

Armed forces in the Middle East and North Africa have become industrial, agricultural and commercial enterprises as much as they are instruments of political coercion and national defense, yet we know very little about the dynamics and mechanics of military-run businesses across the region. This collection of conceptually informed, up-to-date surveys raises the bar for scholarship on the economics of military governance from Libya to Pakistan, Turkey to Yemen. Recognized experts who have undertaken path-breaking fieldwork offer factual information and interpretive insights that can be found nowhere else.