Military Professionalization and Civil-Military Relations in the Middle East

Abstract

Mehran Kamrava examines the current state of civil-military relations in the Middle East and looks at the dilemmas posted to governing elites because of the partial professionalization of the military. He demonstrates that while professionalization has not necessarily meant civilian control over the military, Middle Eastern states have devised a variety of modalities aimed at containing the threat of recurrent military coups common in the region in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.