Using her native Pakistan as an example, Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa spoke of many nations' military-industrial complexes in her lecture entitled "Guns and Butter: Political Economy of Soldiers in Business," last night in the Cabot Intercultural Center.
In countries where the military has economic influence, the military has become a "stationary bandit, rather than a roaming bandit," and can use its political influence to procure unfair advantages in commerce.
Siddiqa said that in such cases, the military's attitude amounts to "I don't want just guns; I will take your butter as well."
Pakistan has large amounts of money for the military invested in businesses and real estate, but less active military officers working in the economic sector. According to Siddiqa, retired members of the military have many business advantages, especially when competing for government contracts.
The Pakistani military is also able to acquire private land and redistribute it for its own personnel, where military-owned construction and transportation companies monopolize service through preferential awarding of government grants.
In one area of Pakistan, according to Siddiqa, the military took control of a government road and began charging a road tax, something that Siddiqa said is, "clearly illegal" under Pakistani law. This ability to bypass laws stems from and increases the political influence of the military.
The real test of a military's pervasiveness in the economy is found by the examining the three layers of the military-industrial complex found in many countries.
The first layer comprises the actual organization of the military, the second includes all military foundations involved in the economy, and the third is the undocumented smaller ventures designed for fundraising.
All of these things can be found in Pakistan where there are over 90 military foundations providing a wide variety of goods and services. There are also undocumented ventures such as bakeries and gas stations, which are set up in communities where they are able to undercut local prices.
Additonally, the actual military possesses the two characteristics which Siddiqa said allows it to interfere in business. These are financial autonomy and capacity to redistribute resources
The Pakistani military possesses considerable financial autonomy and is able to use the principle of eminent domain-generally used in America during the creation of highways, or public buildings-to acquire public land and redistribute it to their personnel.
Currently, according to Siddiqa, the Pakistani military receives 10 percent of newly available land. The military received three million acres in 11 provinces in the last few years - just over 3.5 billion American dollars worth of property. As a result, there is less land for peasants to farm.
According to Siddiqa, this redistribution is mostly concentrated on the top ranks of the military, and rarely benefits the low-ranking officer.
Siddiqa said military officials in Pakistan will aggressively defend these types of actions, saying that their business ventures are more effective and successful than private ones, and that that they are trying to raise money to better care for their soldiers.
"Land as a resource in being monopolized," Siddiqa said.
Siddiqa said that the people like her who criticize this build-up are being dismissed as pseudo-intellectuals who don't understand the situation. But according to Siddiqa, the government denies many of the problems she made apparent in her speech.
"I, as a Pakistani analyst, cannot ignore this expansion, [as the] military begins to define its role in terms of defense and economics," Siddiqa said, adding that the military could begin to shift its focus to internal threats, such as terrorism
Siddiqa is a fellow in the Asian Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and is the author of the book "Pakistan's Arms Procurement and Military Buildup, 1979-99."
