Militaries and Democracies in the Middle East

Abstract

Steven Cook’s contribution adopts a comparative approach by putting the Egyptian case in perspective with Turkey and Libya. The Turkish case shows that while a civilian government has the ability to domesticate an army, this does not guarantee a democratic outcome. And the Libyan case demonstrates that, contrary to some of the optimistic assumptions prevalent in 2011, having “not enough” military poses other challenges in terms of national cohesion and security.