The Power Triangle: Military, Security, and Politics in Regime Change - Hardcover

Kandil, Hazem

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0190239204 ISBN 13: 9780190239206

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2016

Synopsis

Revolution, reform, and resilience comprise the respective fortunes of modern Iran, Turkey, and Egypt. Although the countries all experienced coups with remarkably similar ambitions, each followed a very different trajectory. Iran became an absolutist monarchy that was overthrown from below, Turkey evolved into a limited democracy, and Egypt turned into a police state.

In The Power Triangle, Hazem Kandil attributes the different outcomes to the power struggle between the political, military, and security institutions. Coups establish a division of labor, with one group of officers running government, another overseeing the military, and a third handling security. But their interests begin to vary as each group identifies with its own institution. Politicians wish to rule indefinitely; military officers prefer to return to barracks after implementing the needed reforms; and security men scramble to maintain the privileges they acquired in the post-coup emergency. Driven by conflicting agendas, these partners in domination struggle over regime control. Using comparative historical sociology, Kandil demonstrates how regimes are constantly shaped and reshaped through the recurrent clashes and shifting alliances between the team of rivals in this "power triangle."

The Power Triangle's realist approach to regime change shows that a clear explanation of pivotal events in Iran, Turkey, and Egypt is impossible without a firm grasp of the power relations within each country's ruling bloc.

About this title

About the Author

Hazem Kandil is the Cambridge University Lecturer in Political Sociology and Fellow of St Catharine's College. He studies power relations in revolution and war in the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America.

Review

"This is a fascinating, persuasive, and highly original analysis of power struggles within states between the political elite, the armed forces, and the security police - Kandil's 'power triangle'. The subject-matter is recent Middle Eastern states, on which Kandil is highly authoritative. Yet his model could be fruitfully applied to non-democratic states throughout the world. This is the best political sociology I have read in years."
--Michael Mann, Distinguished Research Professor, UCLA

"In this tour de force of comparative historical sociology, Kandil addresses the puzzle of 'revolutions from above' and their different outcomes across the Middle East in the mid-twentieth century. With forensic skill and an informed theoretical grounding, as well as a deep historical understanding of the processes involved, he analyses the regime dynamics of the military coup makers in Iran, Turkey and Egypt. In doing so, he provides an insightful and highly plausible account of the very different trajectories that developed from the initial coups d'état."
--Charles Tripp, Professor of Politics, SOAS, University of London

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0190239204
• ISBN 13: 9780190239206
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 424