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Egypt THE MILITARY IN NATIONAL LIFE
The military became one of the most important factors in
Egyptian politics after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1952.
Nasser appointed members of the officer corps to senior positions
in the bureaucracy and public sector to help implement his social
revolution. But in the later years of the Nasser regime, fewer
military figures occupied high government posts. Even fewer held
posts during the Sadat and Mubarak regimes. Nevertheless, senior
generals on active service continued to hold the key positions in
agencies responsible for national security--the Ministry of Defense
and the Ministry of Interior--as of early 1990.
After the June 1967 War, which tarnished the reputation of the
military leadership, Nasser purged many officers from government.
Sadat further reduced the military's influence in government by
removing strong military figures who were liable to challenge his
policies and by insisting on greater professionalism in the event
of renewed conflict with Israel. He appointed fewer active or
retired officers to high positions, although he named air force
commander Husni Mubarak as vice president. Sadat was careful,
however, to protect the career interests of professional soldiers
and to provide for the material requirements of the military.
Although the size of the armed forces had decreased after peace
with Israel, the officer complement remained intact. Egypt's
expanding relationship with the United States after 1974 assured a
continued supply of modern weapons.
The performance of the army during the October 1973 War helped
restore the military's prestige and served to justify Sadat's
emphasis on professionalism instead of involvement in civilian
politics
(see Politics among Elites
, ch. 4). The military
leadership's views continued to have an important influence on the
formulation of defense and national security policies. Opposition
politicians, who had become more vocal during the Mubarak regime,
insisted upon open debate on defense strategy, the privileges of
the officer corps, and the share of national resources allocated to
defense.
The armed forces played a role in maintaining domestic
stability, although only under the most compelling circumstances
had they actually been called upon in a domestic crisis. These
occasions included the violent 1977 food riots and an uprising of
conscripts of the Central Security Forces in Cairo (Al Qahirah) and
other cities in 1986
(see Police
, this ch.). The military
leadership noted pointedly that the army units returned to their
barracks as soon as both emergencies had ended. The efficiency and
professionalism the armed forces demonstrated during these
emergencies reinforced the public's perception that the army was
the ultimate safeguard against militant Islamists or others who
might threaten civil authority.
Mubarak's firm control over the military enabled him to
restrict the influence of the officer corps over political decision
making. His encouragement of democratizing tendencies in the
political system led to previously unexpressed public criticism of
the military's privileges and its demands on the economy. Much of
the debate over the military's role during the Mubarak regime
centered on Abu Ghazala, Mubarak's close collaborator, who was
named minister of defense before Sadat's death in 1981 and was
promoted to field marshal and deputy prime minister in 1982. Under
Abu Ghazala, the military's growing involvement in Egypt's
industrial, military, and agricultural sectors offset the
military's diminishing role in politics
(see Production of Civilian Goods
, this ch.). With substantial economic resources and the means
to earn revenues independently of the budget, the defense sector
was able to maintain a high degree of financial autonomy. Despite
the government's fiscal austerity, Abu Ghazala was able to purchase
expensive modern weaponry during the 1980s and to undertake vast
housing projects to improve the living conditions of both officers
and enlisted personnel. Widely regarded as the natural successor to
Mubarak as president, Abu Ghazala was careful not to appear to be
a political rival to Mubarak or to undercut the president's
authority. He nevertheless spoke out on nonmilitary matters,
apparently with Mubarak's consent, and developed a network of
contacts with civilian business leaders.
In April 1989, Mubarak abruptly appointed General Yusuf Sabri
Abu Talib as minister of defense and commander in chief and
assigned Abu Ghazala the vague position of assistant to the
president. Most observers believed that Abu Ghazala had been
dismissed for corrupt financial dealings as well as for a scandal
over smuggling arms from the United States; others believed that
Mubarak considered him too influential. One effect of Mubarak's
dramatic action, however, was to strengthen civilian primacy over
the military. Abu Ghazala's successor, Abu Talib, had earned a
reputation as an efficient manager in his previous post as governor
of Cairo. When Abu Talib took up his new post, he indicated that he
intended to introduce greater financial accountability into defense
programs and to limit the military's involvement in economic
activities that were not directly related to defense and that
competed with the private sector. Abu Talib was also charged with
bringing corruption in the armed forces under control.
Data as of December 1990
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