Browsing by Subject "Political Islam"
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Item Open Access From political Islam to conservative democracy: the case of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey(Routledge, 2006-12) Özbudun, E.If one of the most interesting characteristics of the Turkish party system in the 1990s was the rapid rise of political Islam under the banner of the Welfare Party, an equally, perhaps even more, noteworthy development in the early 2000s is its transformation under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) leadership into a moderate conservative democratic party. Various aspects of this transformation are the central focus of this work. The AKP is compared with the earlier Islamist parties in terms of ideology, organization, competitive strategy, and government performance.Item Open Access Mitigating anti-Americanism in Turkey through public diplomacy(Bilkent University, 2007) Watson, ForrestRecord-high anti-Americanism in Turkey goes deeper than the ongoing Iraq War. The build-up to and aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Turkey’s neighbor ignited preexisting sensitivities in Turkey due to its past relations with America and its own identity issues and fears. Turkey views the U.S. through the lenses of 1) an exaggerated view of American agency coupled with mistrust and 2) a reactionary phobia about threats to undermine the Turkish Republic. Seen through theses lenses, anti-Americanism is driven by a perception that America is supporting 1) Kurdish self-determination, which will lead to the eventual dismemberment of Turkey and 2) political Islam as a part of its broader plan for Middle East politics, which threatens to erode Turkey’s secular state. Because anti-Americanism is mostly based on distorted perceptions caused by the lenses, public diplomacy is an effective tool that should be utilized by the U.S. to bring about understanding with the Turkish public. If the politically-rooted anti- Americanism in Turkey continues, it will solidify into a view of the U.S. as a threatening power, squandering Turks’ natural affection for Americans. U.S. public diplomacy for Turkey can be improved by Washington and the U.S. Embassy in Ankara by acting from an understanding of the uniqueness of Turkey and the reasons that drive its anti-Americanism. Reinvigorated public diplomacy offers hope for strengthening a relationship that is in the best interests of both Turkey and America.Item Open Access Secularism and islamic modernism in Turkey(Instituto Superior de Ciencias do Trabalho e da Empresa, 2006) Cinar, A.This paper focuses on the institutionalization of secularism in Turkey through the establishment of a Directorate of Religious Affairs as a state office, vested with full authority over Islamic thought and practice. It explores the ways in which the state promoted this Directorate as the only legitimate Islamic authority in Turkey and how, in the 1990s, alternative voices representing Islamic thought and practice gained salience and challenged the authority of official Islam. It is in such a context that the Islamic modernizers emerged as a new political movement around AK (Justice and Development) Party, which broke off from the former Islamist party Refah/Fazilet, and won a major victory at the 2002 general elections. The paper addresses the emergence of AK Party and its policy toward secularism, political Islam and nationalism.Item Open Access Understanding new middle eastern leadership: an operational code approach(SAGE Publications, 2018) Özdamar, Özgür; Canbolat, S.Political Islam and Islamist organizations have broadly gained strength across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the post-Cold War era. Following the Arab uprisings, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), generally viewed as the world’s largest and most influential Islamist organization, has shaped the wider landscape of MENA politics. This study examines MB leadership by comparing M. Morsi of Egypt, R. Ghannouchi of Tunisia, and K. Meshaal of Gaza as examples of Islamist leaders to explain their political belief systems and predict their foreign-policy behavior. We use the operational code approach, a content-analysis software and statistical tests to conduct the study. Results show that the three leaders’ foreign policy beliefs are analogous to the averages of world leaders. Results also partially support the hypothesis that their foreign-policy propensities are similar to each other. We conclude that despite the conventional portrayal of MB leadership, these leaders use negotiation and cooperation to settle their differences in foreign affairs, and the best way to approach them is to engage in a Rousseauvian assurance game that emphasizes international social cooperation. Results also suggest important implications in terms of mainstream international relations theories.