The rise of military capital in Pakistan: Military neoliberalism, authoritarianism and urbanization

Abstract

This article develops the concept of military neoliberalism that allows us to trace the historical development of Pakistani military capital with the expansion of market-led reforms and its mode of operation in the urban domain. Military neoliberalism signifies the double role of the military; firstly, using authoritarianism, the military has extended neoliberal reforms in collaboration with local and foreign capitalist classes over the decades. Secondly, the military has expanded its reach and operations in the economy at a large scale, transitioning into a sovereign capitalist power that operates independently from the rest of the state apparatuses and utilizes its powers for economic, political, and territorial objectives. Such dynamics are leading to new class transformations and producing seismic shifts within the state apparatuses because, along with a revitalized capitalist class, a class of military capitalists has emerged in different sectors of the economy, most prominently in industrial production, urban real estate, and infrastructure development. The category of sovereign capitalist power gestures towards the twin dynamics; firstly, the military can use violence for its strategic political and economic goals. Secondly, the military can operate above the law for the advantage of military capital. As a result, the increasing militarization of the economy, and the corporatization of the military, have produced a new system of socioeconomic and political control that relies upon repeated interventions of the military in politics to resolve class antagonisms, strengthen the power of local capital, and intensify the reach of global financial capital in different markets of Pakistan.