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The Role of the Military in Middle East Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Majid Khadduri
Majid Khadduri
Affiliation:
School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University
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Extract

During the past four years several Middle Eastern countries have experienced governmental changes in which the army took an active part. In Syria and Egypt the army deliberately intervened to overthrow discredited regimes and to depose the heads of state. In Lebanon and Iraq the heads of state, themselves alarmed by an intense struggle among rival political parties, invited the army to intervene in order to maintain order. In Lebanon the army refused to crush the opposition, acting only as a caretaker; in Iraq the army agreed to support authority against disorder and the effect of its intervention cannot yet be foreseen.

This control of government by the military is indicative both of serious defects in democratic processes in the Middle East and of the eagerness with which Middle Eastern leaders seek high political office. In Western democratic countries, traditions have developed which tend to keep the army isolated from domestic politics, although military advice has often been sought on foreign policy, and persons whose careers have been in the military service are not infrequently elected, or appointed, to high political positions. This is a quite different matter, however, from the military's choosing to occupy high political office through the weapons of its own profession.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , June 1953 , pp. 511 - 524
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1953

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References

1 For a more detailed statement on the nature of the Islamic state, see Khadduri, M., “The Juridical Theory of the Islamic State,” The Muslim World, Vol. 41, pp. 181–85 (07, 1951)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 See Adams, Charles C., Islam and Modernism in Egypt (London, 1933)Google Scholar; and Gibb, H. A. R., Modern Trends in Islam (Chicago, 1946)Google Scholar.

3 For a discussion of the origins and ideas of the Muslim Brotherhood, see Heyworth-Dunne, J., Religious and Political Trends in Modern Egypt (Washington, 1950)Google Scholar.

4 See Butterfield, Herbert, History and Human Relations (London, 1951), p. 132Google Scholar.

5 For further details on the relations between persons and property, see my Law of War and Peace in Islam (London, 1941)Google Scholar, Ch. 9.

6 See al-Ghazzali, Muhammad, Islam and Socialist Programs (Cairo, 1951), pp. 35–37Google Scholar. See also Qutb, Sayyid, Social Justice in Islam (Cairo, 1950)Google Scholar. (Both in Arabic.)

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8 Zurayk, Costi, Ma'na al-Nukba (Beirut, 1948)Google Scholar.

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10 Khalid, Khalid Muhammad, Min Huna Nabda' (Cairo, 1950)Google Scholar. For a short summary of this book sec Ziadeh, Nicola A., “Recent Books on the Interpretation of Islam,” The Middle East Journal, Vol. 5, pp. 506–8 (Autumn, 1951)Google Scholar.

11 Muwatinun La Ra'aya (Cairo, 1951)Google Scholar.

12 It is not the writer's purpose in this article to give the history of the various Middle Eastern military coups, but rather to discuss the general character of military rule as well as its impact on politics. For the history of military rule, see Carleton, Alford, “The Syrian Coups d'Etat,” Middle East Journal, Vol. 4, (01, 1950), pp. 1–12Google Scholar; al-Barrawi, Rashid, The Military Coup in Egypt (Cairo, 1952)Google Scholar, in Arabic; Khadduri, M., Independent Iraq (London, 1951)Google Scholar.

13 For an evaluation of Zia Gok Alp's ideas and influence on the Committee of Union and Progress and the military, see Heyd, Uriel, Foundations of Turkish Nationalism (London, 1950)Google Scholar.

14 See texts of the Syrian land decrees and the Egyptian Land Reform Law in Middle East Journal, Vol. 7, pp. 69–81 (Winter, 1953)Google Scholar.

15 Müffling, , Die Feldzüge der Schlesischen Armee, p. 52Google Scholar, cited by von Wartenburg, Yorck, Napoleon As a General, trans. James, W. G., Vol. 1, p. 151Google Scholar.

16 An Arab poet once remarked on the arbitrary rule of the military regime of the Young Turks who had overthrown Sultan Abdul-Hamid's regime in 1909:

“There was only one Hamid a few days ago,

But today of Hamid there's a thousand or so.”

(Translation done in verse by Miss Katherine Parker.)

17 See my Independent Iraq (London, 1951), pp. 34–35Google Scholar.

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