Browsing by Subject "Islam and state--Turkey."

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7

Open Access
Political engagement patterns of Islamist movements : the case of the Nizam
(2011) Sezgin, İpek Gencel
Focusing on the Nizam/Selamet Movement, this dissertation studies why and how there are variations in the political engagement patterns of “moderate” Islamist movements operating within the same institutional/political context. Specifically, covering a period from the 1960s through the 1970s, this study examines why and how the Nizam/Selamet Movement emerged and established a political party; produced goals and ideational elements distinct from contemporary and past Islamist movements in Turkey and showed considerable flexibility in its choice of allies, strategies and policies, including formation of a coalition government with the archenemy of the Islamists, the Republican People’s Party. Drawing on the Nizam/Selamet case, this study argues that Islamist movements are complex social phenomena that emerge and survive through an incremental process entailing interacting, complex and even undetermined sets of cognitive, relational and environmental factors. The answer to the research question thus lies in unearthing these configurations through descending up and down the macro (political field), meso (network and organization) and micro (properties and trajectories of the movement elites and activists) echelons at both national and local levels of the political field and the movement. A historical dimension is also necessary to highlight intra- and extra-movement factors at different life phases of the movement (accumulated resources and inherited constraints), which shape the form and substance of its political engagement; and to take into consideration the influence of one stage over the other.
Open Access
Politics of re-building hegemony and the subject in post-1997 Turkey
(2011) Taş, Hakkı
This study aims to analyze the interrelation between hegemony and the subject within the case of the February 28 process, which refers to the military’s long-term project to reshape the Turkish social and political system which had brought the Islamist Refah Partisi (RP - Welfare Party) to the office after the 1995 general elections. It sets out to analyze through what mechanisms the military attempted to re-institute secularism and how the religious groups responded to this process. Taking the Gramscian approach to power at its theoretical background, this dissertation argues that studies on hegemony should go beyond the dichotomies such as domination versus resistance, or cooptation versus subversion. Instead, it offers multiple responses the subaltern subject may give. These “strategies of survival” include exit, submission, liminal resistance, and violence. Framing Turkey’s “postmodern coup” as a hegemonic project, this dissertation examines the coercive and consensual means employed by the military to refashion Turkey’s political, economic, and social texture. The responses of the religious subaltern are analyzed within the three case studies, which are the National Vision movement, the Islamic capital with special reference to the Islamic finance, and the Islamist music in the political, economic, and socio-cultural fields, respectively. The February 28 process became a milestone in Turkish politics that defined the political alignments in the subsequent decades. This dissertation argues that globalization and the adoption of Western norms have become a strategy of survival for the religious subaltern. While the post-Islamists adopted a pro-Western liberal approach, the secularists moved towards a more state-centered communitarian conception of politics.
Open Access
Reluctant capitalists : the rise of neo-Islamic bourgeoisie in Turkey
(2013) Şişman, Özlem
The rise of the JDP to power in Turkey in 2002 marked a beginning of a new era in Turkey and Islamic world, in terms of enduring debate between Islam and Democracy and that of Islam and Capitalism. One of the significant outcomes of this politico-economic development was emergence of a neo-Islamic bourgeoisie in modern Turkey. The aim of my dissertation is to contextualize rise of this neo- Islamic bourgeoisie class against the backdrop of conflict and cooperation between Islam and Capitalism in general; and political, intellectual and economic transformations of Islamist actors over the last three decades in Turkey, in particular. As a case study, I will examine vision, mission and activities of a nongovernmental Islamic business organization, İGİAD i (Financial Business Ethics Foundation/İktisadi Girişim ve İş Ahlakı Derneği), which was an offshoot of MÜSİAD (The Independent Industrialists‘ and Businessmen‘s Association/ Müstakil İşadamları Derneği). The reason I chose to work on İGİAD is twofold: a) the organization has never been studied from and academic point of view; and b) it is an Islamic business organization which makes the most self-conscious effort to reconcile capitalist business principles and Islamic ethical values. Based on my research, I argue that neo-Islamic class found an ―opportunity space‖ in a Weberian sense, in the last three decades in the Turkish economypolitical context, and emerged as a result of an ongoing negotiation between selfperception of their Islamic identity and capitalism. Overcoming the challenges, and decreasing the ‗discursive tension‘ between Islam and capitalism, in this process, these Islamic actors defined and redefined Islam, secularism, capitalism, investment, banking, consumption, and luxury in such a way that both Islam and capitalism were considered flexible enough to accommodate each other. At the end of the process, they emerged as ―reluctant capitalists‖. Methodologically speaking, my dissertation will integrate my analysis of secondary and primary sources that I have been examining at Bilkent and Harvard libraries last three years; of Islamic media (newspapers, journals, TV channels) products; and more importantly in-depth interviews with members of neo-Islamic bourgeoisie class in Turkey, mostly with the members İGİAD.
Open Access
Stability of covers under different rights structures
(2012) Akbulut, Çiğdem
A countryís social welfare depends on Örmsí proÖts and consumersí surplus. Given unions of countries, a countryís aim is to maximize its own social welfare when it decides to enter or exit a union. For examining unions, we use the notion of a cover as elaborated in Koray (2007).We utilize the Öndings of Ilk¨l¨Á · (2010) about the Cournot equilibrium in our setting to examine core stability and e¢ ciency of covers of countries.We adapt di§erent rightsístructures based on; free exit, free entry, approved exit and approved entry introduced by Sertel (1992) to the context of covers, along with introducing some stronger structures and study how stability of covers varies when linkage costs are imposed upon countries.
Open Access
The state elites and secularism with special reference to the military : the case of the 1980 military intervention
(2002) Yılmaz, Mehmet
The study aims to analyze the policies and attitudes of the military leaders of the 1980 Intervention towards religion. The state elites in the Ottoman-Turkish history have been the principal agents behind the secularization reforms and the maintenance of the established secularity tradition since the adoption of the modernization reforms in the nineteenth century, which initiated a process of social and political changes that culminated in the establishment of the Turkish Republic. Yet, the affirmative approach of the military leaders of the 1980 Intervention denotes a notable break from the previous tradition. The military leaders of the 1980 accentuated that religion was one of the indispensable components of national culture, and promoted it in cultural area through various policies and practices. This study tries to comprehend the implications of this change for the established secularity tradition in Turkey.
Open Access
Transformation of the Turkish religious right with focus on the impact of state elites, globalization and Europeanization
(2012) Köni, Hakan
This dissertation is aims to analyze the change of Turkish religious right from National View parties to the Justice and Development Party in its goal and issue orientation in terms of the importance given to religion, and the influence of state elites, globalization and Europeanization in this process. This analysis will become possible with the help of a set of theoretical approaches offered to explain the causes and nature of party change particularly those of them examining the role of environmental changes in the change of party ideology or policy. Based on a detailed examination of the views and policies of relevant parties on issues of foreign policy and domestic politics, it is observed that Turkish religious right has evolved from a conservative religious movement with occasional radical tendencies to a moderate conservative one. The impact of state elites in this change is detected to be related with their secularist conception and applications which could be explained in short as opposition to the presence of religion in public life in substantial ways. Globalization and Europeanization, secondly, is explored to be associated with the process with the strong propensity and willingness they bring in to religious right towards the adoption and promotion of western political, economic and cultural norms, principles and institutions, and establishment of deeper and closer relations with the west. In foreign policy, the movement has shown a gradual shift from a substantially culturalist to a pragmatist and rational approach. While the National View parties followed a foreign policy program defending the necessity of establishing close ties with the Muslim world and minimizing relations with the West; the Justice and Development Party is with the idea of leading Turkey into a process of greater integration and cooperation with the west. The JDP has not turned its back to the Muslim world, but concerns for political, legal and social reforms have started to occupy a more important place in its Middle East agenda compared to traditional cultural concerns. In domestic politics, secondly, the most remarkable change is detected in transition from a succession of parties aiming to introduce Islamic norms and principles in public life to a party aiming to introduce rights and freedoms for its conservative electorate through the mechanisms provided by liberal democratic systems with clear detachment from the goal of introducing Islamic law and state.
Open Access
The Turkish political economy after the 2000-2001 financial crises : an unusual chapter written by the first Justice and Development Party government
(2007) Afşar, Emre
This thesis analyzes the five-year period of the Turkish political economy following the 2000-2001 financial crises. This five-year period signifies an important point of departure from the classical Turkish political economy as stable and rapid growth was sustained for over twenty consecutive quarters. The strong commitment to the fiscal discipline and to the powerful external anchors such as the IMF and EU were key to this success. The central question is what motivated the JDP government to show this longlasting commitment to the fiscal discipline and the external anchors particularly to the IMF-induced economic programs. Growing ties with the global economy, the new institutional framework, the new balance of power within the networks shaping the Turkish political economy and the successful implementation of the JDP’s prudent political economy agenda are the four plausible explanations for the central question. Each of these explanations is elaborated in a separate chapter and the growing ties with the global economy prevail as the most competent explanation since it directly contributes to the emerging of the other three explanations.