There is a broad consensus that the Egyptian military has consolidated control over the economy and levers of state power since the military coup that brought Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power in 2013. This penetration of the Egyptian military into the range of organs of the state directs attention to the stories that the Egyptian military tells of itself at spectacle of the Ministry of Defense-administered museums. I follow Timothy Mitchell’s analysis of the machinery of representation that rendered the world beyond the threshold of the museum as an extension of the logics of the museum. This paper explores the representation of the Egyptian military and General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi through the questions: To what extent have the 6th of October Panorama and National Military Museum in the Citadel been transformed under the al-Sisi regime? How does the figure of al-Sisi register, in particular, and the present-day Egyptian military, in general, register in these museums administered by the Ministry of Defense? And how do those changing representations correspond to the changing role of the Egyptian military in the configurations of state power? I argue that there has been a rolling back of the triumphal language at the panorama and National Military Museum as the Egyptian military consolidated unprecedented control of the state. Whereas the Hosni Mubarak regime invested heavily in the representation of the Egyptian military in Ministry of Defense museums through cooperative agreements with Democratic Republic of North Korea artists to redesign the National Military Museum and to build the 6th of October Panorama in the 1980s and 1990s, the current regime directed efforts to high-profile megaproject collaborations with engineers and real estate companies from the Gulf, China, and Europe to articulate visions of Egypt. These shifting practices of representation speak to the changing interpretation of the Egyptian military and the stories they tell themselves about themselves. I advance this argument through multi-day visits to the 6th of October Panorama in Heliopolis and the National Military Museum in the Cairo Citadel with attention to the practices of representation of the al-Sisi regime against the transformations in Egyptian state power since 2013. I situate recent transformations in relation to the 1990s renovation of the National Museum and the 1980s creation of the 6th of October Panorama.

My research question seeks to answer how Arab Ottoman military officers who served both the Ottoman Empire and its successor nation-states of the Modern Middle East claimed leadership and authority in dynamic political and social spaces that bridged the end of empire, as narrated in their memoirs. This paper argues that Arab-Ottoman officers developed subjectivities possessing self-evident claims to political leadership based on what they framed as a distinctively modern education, providing expertise in the tools and practices of modernity, combined with a concomitant “Arab” authenticity. Neither of these core components would have been sufficient on their own, but it was these officers’ ability to portray an embrace of both, through accumulated cultural capital in each, that provided them with the ability to challenge opponents and claim authority themselves. These officers’ ability to demonstrate their ‘modernity’ and ‘authenticity’ can be recognized through Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of social and cultural capital. Arab Ottoman officer memoirs contain self-portrayals as idealized knightly, masculine, ‘Arab’ tribal warriors, following in the footsteps of earlier generations, while at the same time as technical experts in ‘modern’ warfare and in the scientific work of bringing ‘modern’ infrastructure and education to the population of the empire and successor nation-states. My research examines memoirs and select secondary sources of twelve Arab Ottoman military officers whose careers spanned the late Ottoman through modern Middle East periods. My research identifies specific anecdotes in officer memoirs and analyzes them as claims of social and cultural capital, shaping their overall habitus. My research also reveals a striking continuity in these officers’ subjectivities despite the dramatic social, political, and economic disruptions of the wartime and post-war period. These continuities support recent scholarship by Hasan Kayalı, Talha Çiçek, and others regarding Ottoman continuities across the “end of empire.” The findings also connect Lucie Ryzova’s work on the construction of ‘modern’ subjectivity by Egyptian civilian Efendiyya to Michael Provence’s exploration of the shared trajectories of Ottoman-educated Arab officers in the interwar period, as well as Mostafa Minawi’s illumination of Arab Ottoman imperialists who utilized social and cultural capital to carry out imperial policies in the Arab provinces. Connecting these works and centering the experiences of officers whose trajectories and memoir narratives bridged the “end of empire” reveals how a powerful group of individuals mobilized concepts of modernity and tradition in a generally consistent manner to navigate a period of unprecedented upheaval and disruption.

Although the era of neoliberal globalization has led to the decline of military conscription in most industrialized democratic states, conscription has maintained a tenacious presence that is often overlooked in other parts of the world. This study [re]examines how civil-military relations are being reconfigured in Egypt’s post-war neoliberal landscape through the prism of the canteen – a military-operated kiosk operating in all their facilities. In essence, the canteen is a profit-generating venture where basic goods such as snacks, cigarettes, and beverages are sold to military personnel, making it easy to dismiss as a seemingly apolitical space. Beyond the surface, however, I argue that it is a site where the crucibles of the military’s political economy become directly observable and intelligible to conscripts. First, I demonstrate how neoliberal economic reforms have substantially diversified the Egyptian military’s mandate and the role of conscripts, undermining the value of conscription as a homogenizing practice of citizenship. Second, I examine the canteen’s operations and its ubiquity in military life whilst demonstrating its ability to link a substantially disparate set of conscript experiences. I conclude by presenting three interpretative strategies that conscripts resort to when confronted with the politics of the canteen and the realities of exploitation within the military hierarchy: resistance, accommodation, and disengagement.

According to public opinion surveys from around the world, the military is one of the most trusted national institutions in both democratic and non-democratic countries, exceeding the levels of confidence accorded by citizens to civilian government, elected officials, and the news media. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is no exception to this cross-country pattern. Data from the 2022 Arab Barometer survey show that around 70 percent of surveyed citizens in eleven MENA countries trusted the armed forces a great deal or quite a lot. This finding is especially striking in a region where the armed forces have a history of repression and corruption, undermining democratic transitions, organizing coups, and intervening in affairs of state. Yet, despite a wealth of research examining the drivers of general institutional trust in democratic contexts, fewer works have broached the topic of trust in the military, and fewer still have done so in non-democratic contexts. This article seeks to address this gap by investigating the factors driving trust in the military across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), an empirical puzzle yet to be solved by extant literature. We first critically review the political science, sociology, and psychology works on support for the military and militarism. We then select relevant variables that measure well-being, political ideology, and trust in other institutions that predominate the literature on institutional trust in non-democracies. Drawing on this framework, we formulate a set of hypotheses that we test using nationally representative data from the Arab Barometer Survey in nine MENA countries in 2018-2019 using a panel data methodology. The data collection timing coincides with the so-called Arab Spring 2.0 protests, which allows us to examine trust in the military and assess the variation in military responses in different contentious and country contexts. We find a positive correlation between trust in the army and being male, older, and conservative, as well as feeling safe, supporting democracy, and trusting various political and security institutions. In contrast, level of education, income bracket, economic security, and an Islamist orientation are negatively correlated with trust in the military. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of institutional dynamics in non-democratic contexts, informing broader discussions on political stability and state-society relations in the MENA region. Furthermore, it provides nuanced insights into public perceptions of state institutions, shedding light on the evolving nature of civil-military relations across the Middle East and North Africa.

This paper analyzes the Turkish military's impact on Rojava, North Eastern Syria since the area fell under Democratic Union Party (PYD) control in 2012. The PYD, linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), aimed to implement the Democratic Confederalist Model in Rojava after the Syrian government lost control. The rise of ISIS and a security vacuum in the region led the PYD to ally with the U.S., forming the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with diverse ethnic rebel groups. Turkey, however, views the PYD and its affiliates as terrorists and has conducted cross-border military operations in Rojava. Recent intensified air campaigns have heavily damaged civilian infrastructure, disrupting essential services. Turkey's goal appears to be dismantling Rojava's de facto autonomy by creating divisions among its local allies. This study assesses the effects of Turkey's military actions on Rojava's socio-political landscape. It explores whether these actions foster division or solidarity among Rojava's diverse communities and examines their impact on the region's military, political, and economic structures. Methodologically, this paper utilizes content analysis of media, political statements, and interviews with Rojava officials, journalists, and political figures. It also analyzes the SDF's public statements and recruitment trends to gauge the campaign's influence.