Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy

Pakistan is a strategic ally of the US in the ‘war on terror’. It is the third largest recipient of US aid in the world. Yet Pakistan is a state run by its army and intelligence service. Ayesha Siddiqa shows how the power of the military has transformed Pakistani society, where the armed forces have become an independent class. The military is entrenched in the corporate sector. So Pakistan’s companies and its main assets are in the hands of a tiny minority of senior army officials. Siddiqa examines this military economy and the consequences of merging the military and corporate sectors. Does democracy have a future? Will the generals ever withdraw to the barracks? Military Inc. analyses the internal and external dynamics of this gradual power-building and the impact that it is having on Pakistan’s political and economic development.