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Businessmen in Arms

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

Elke Grawert editor Zeinab Abul-Magd editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Rowman & Littlefield

Published:29th Apr '16

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Businessmen in Arms cover

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.

The first truly comparative analysis of the political economy of armed forces in the MENA, this fine collection reveals militarization’s widespread, profound and devastating consequences for the region’s development. -- Robert Springborg, professor (ret.) of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School
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. -- Fred H. Lawson, author of Global Security Watch Syria

ISBN: 9781442254558

Dimensions: 239mm x 158mm x 30mm

Weight: 680g

334 pages