Shane Mage <[email protected]> wrote: > Morsi was recalled by an overwhelming majority of > Egyptians. Who, unfortunately, were unable to impose their own democratic > government at this stage of their revolution. Which left--very > temporarily--the military as the sole institution capable of sanctioning a > transitional government....
Military juntas come in many flavors. These days many of them don't want to run their countries because they don't want the responsibility and the blame for economic stagnation, social conflict, and the like. So they can be sincere about wanting "democratic elections." Of course, those who win the democratic elections can't tread on the toes of the military. Usually, the military budget is increased. (Why does Egypt have fighter planes?) Of course, juntas insist that Order Must Be Maintained. (Morsi didn't do the job here, it seems.) Often, the "democratically-elected" government acts like a sock puppet for the military. That scenario seems likely to me in Egypt, where the military is allied with the US (and Israel). There are cases in Sub-Saharan Africa where the military is almost the only stable political force, but the officers fight over who will be the leader and will skim off the very limited surplus-product that the economy produces. -- Jim Devine / "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." -- Philip K. Dick _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
