Militarizing the Nation : The Army, Business, and Revolution in Egypt

Winner, 2018 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Egypt's army portrays itself as a faithful guardian "saving the nation." Yet saving the nation has meant militarizing it. Zeinab Abul-Magd examines both the visible and often invisible efforts by Egypt's semi-autonomous military to hegemonize the country's politics, economy, and society over the past six decades. The Egyptian army has adapted to and benefited from crucial moments of change. It weathered the transition to socialism in the 1960s, market consumerism in the 1980s, and neoliberalism from the 1990s onward, all while enhancing its political supremacy and expanding a mammoth business empire. Most recently, the military has fought back two popular uprisings, retained full power in the wake of the Arab Spring, and increased its wealth. While adjusting to these shifts, military officers have successfully transformed urban milieus into ever-expanding military camps. These spaces now host a permanent armed presence that exercises continuous surveillance over everyday life. Egypt's military business enterprises have tapped into the consumer habits of the rich and poor alike, reaping unaccountable profits and optimizing social command. Using both a political economy approach and a Foucauldian perspective, Militarizing the Nation traces the genealogy of the Egyptian military for those eager to know how such a controversial power gains and maintains control. The Egyptian army decided to intervene and take down existing regimes three times in the post-colonial state: once in 1952, and again more recently in 2011 and 2013. In old and new cases of intervention, the military institution deployed the same nationalist rhetoric about its duty as the "guardian" of the nation and the protector of national security and unity. However, the new army of the last three years is not the same institution that existed sixty years ago. This book argues that a new military institution was born in Egypt in the 1980s, after the country fought its last war with its traditional enemy and signed a peace treaty. It is an army of "neo-liberal officers," who run vast business enterprises, enjoy financial autonomy beyond public scrutiny, and intervene in politics with heavy leverage for reasons different than those of the old army ... albeit by using the same nationalist rhetoric. Under such militarism, the country's existing economic crisis is growing acutely worse. The Egyptian pound has been drastically devalued, prices of basic goods have skyrocketed, unemployment rates have further increased, and foreign investors have not arrived to the country yet. As Abul-Magd explores the deep historical roots of the country's current fragile state, she also offers proscriptions for demilitarizing the nation, including divesting the Egyptian military of its business enterprises by curbing the financial support it receives from Arab Gulf states and other powers Winner, 2018 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleEgypt's army portrays itself as a faithful guardian "saving the nation." Yet saving the nation has meant militarizing it. Zeinab Abul-Magd examines both the visible and often invisible efforts by Egypt's semi-autonomous military to hegemonize the country's politics, economy, and society over the past six decades. The Egyptian army has adapted to and benefited from crucial moments of change. It weathered the transition to socialism in the 1960s, market consumerism in the 1980s, and neoliberalism from the 1990s onward, all while enhancing its political supremacy and expanding a mammoth business empire. Most recently, the military has fought back two popular uprisings, retained full power in the wake of the Arab Spring, and increased its wealth.While adjusting to these shifts, military officers have successfully transformed urban milieus into ever-expanding military camps. These spaces now host a permanent armed presence that exercises continuous surveillance over everyday life. Egypt's military business enterprises have tapped into the consumer habits of the rich and poor alike, reaping unaccountable profits and optimizing social command. Using both a political economy approach and a Foucauldian perspective, __Militarizing the Nation__ traces the genealogy of the Egyptian military for those eager to know how such a controversial power gains and maintains control. La jaquette indique : "Egypt's army portrays itself as a faithful guardian "saving the nation." Yet saving the nation has meant militarizing it. Zeinab Abul-Magd examines both the visible and often invisible efforts by Egypt's semiautonomous military to hegemonize the country's politics, economy, and society over the past six decades. The Egyptian army has adapted to and benefited from crucial moments of change. It weathered the transition to socialism in the 1960s, market consumerism in the 1980s, and neoliberalism from the 1990s onward, all while enhancing its political supremacy and expanding a mammoth business empire. Most recently, the military has fought back two popular uprisings, retained full power in the wake of the Arab Spring, and increased its wealth. While adjusting to these shifts, military officers have successfully transformed urban milieus into ever-expanding military camps. These spaces now host a permanent armed presence that exercises continuous surveillance over everyday life. Egypt's military business enterprises have tapped into the consumer habits of the rich and poor alike, reaping unaccountable profits and optimizing social command. Using both a political economy approach and a Foucauldian perspective, Militarizing the Nation traces the genealogy of the Egyptian military for those eager to know how such a controversial power gains and maintains control."