ABSTRACT
The new military regime failed to stabilize the country as it engaged in heavy purges of the armed forces themselves. Civilian officials took over the private enterprises, although the armed forces did engage in some defense-related economic activities such as production of munitions. The armed forces consumed significant resources and remained important political actors, but they ran few state enterprises until the early 1980s. For some officers, at least, military corporations raised questions about the integrity and professionalization of the armed forces. Some officers feared that the military's corporate identity would be fragmented by military men taking up commercial tasks and that the armed forces would undergo rupture as officers and enlisted men became involved in nonmilitary endeavors. Anecdotal accounts of corrupt activities of military officers in Third World countries abound, but rarely has there been systematic research of the impact on the private sector— or on the military itself—of the armed forces' economic undertakings, although these are frequently significant.
