Manpower (To Include Women) and Military Establishments in the Middle East and North Africa

This study, addresses a facet of security and military capabilities in the Middle East by examining the current and projected availability of military manpower in ten select countries Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria. The importance of manpower issues to the countries of the Middle East cannot be underestimated. For example, in Saudi Arabia, the available trained manpower is limited, and will continue to be the major obstacle to the effective integration of sophisticated weapons into the Armed Forces. This problem is exacerbated by the underdeveloped nature of the countrys infrastructure and competition with the private sector for scarce personnel. Israel, on the other hand, has met its extraordinary security requirements with a small but rapidly mobilizable manpower tool. Our approach to the study of Middle Eastern manpower is multidisciplinary and integrates the complementary advantages and perspectives of quantitative and more traditional analytic techniques, to better assess both the statistical and the less-quantifiable factors germane to the evolution of a skilled military-eligible labor pool. This volume describes a systematic model developed for analyzing and assessing the impact of selected manpower determinants on the supply of military personnel in the countries under study. Discussion is built upon a critique of the existing DIA Middle Eastern Manpower submitted under separate cover, and it outlines a deterministic model of the manpower availability process.