Political loyalty needs forced the Pashas to tolerate corrupt, incompetent officers

Evidence

Finally, he was limited by his need to create a loyal elite, a consideration that forced him to turn a blind eye on some of the “extra-legal” measures that some members of this elite were taking and that undermined the machine-like manner in which the army was supposed to have functioned. His son, Ibrahim Pasha, faced similar pressing constraints. In his need to create a reliable officer corps he resorted to appointing men who were often incompetent and whom he had to keep a watchful eye on. As reliable as his soldiers were in battle, securing for him his most important military achievements, his officers, although remaining mostly loyal to him and his father, were corrupt, incompetent and often at odds with each other. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 951

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the loyalty-vs-competence tradeoff from ‘A Midwife’s Tale’ and patronage studies generally; also parallels the Milgrom/Roberts material on reputation systems tolerating private enforcement.