Egypt and Myanmar: How the Military’s Economic Interests Complicates Political Transition

<p>This event was organised by MEI’s Political Economy Research Cluster on 24 March 2021. Click on the following link for more details: <a href='https://mei.nus.edu.sg/event/egypt-and-myanmar-how-the-militarys-economic-interests-complicates-political-transition/'>https://mei.nus.edu.sg/event/egypt-and-myanmar-how-the-militarys-economic-interests-complicates-political-transition/</a> </p> Abstracts <p>Egypt and Turkey: The Military’s Economic Stake and the Path to Political Transition by Dr Yezid Sayigh</p> <p class="selectionshareable">Comparison between the political and economic roles of the National Armed Forces in Turkey and Egypt allows three principal insights. First, the degree to which the military is committed to a dominant economic model has a major bearing on the form and purpose of its own economic activity. It follows that the lack of a clear vision for the path to capitalist development, or an enduring legacy of non-capitalist path to development, allows opportunistic economic activity and raises the military’s stake in holding on to state power.</p> <p class="selectionshareable">Second, the retreat of the military role in national politics and government is heavily contingent on social transformations resulting from economic modes that generate significant social classes and private sectors with a higher relative degree of autonomy from the state. The converse is also true – the military may tighten its grip where economic mode and state power impede social transformation of this kind and instead, generate concentration of wealth and widen income disparity.</p> <p class="selectionshareable">Lastly, the preceding two dimensions are reflected in the political domain: in a multi-party system, the military tends to act as a balancer and arbiter whereas in a one or non-party system, the military tends to entrench its role as a regime pillar and further concentrate all forms of power in the state. </p> <p class="selectionshareable"> </p> <p>The Military Coup in Myanmar: Taking Care of Busines