|
|
|
Turkish Politics in a Changing World: Global Dynamics and Domestic Transformations |
|
reviewed by Ceren Mutus |
|
|
Author: E. Fuat Keyman & Ziya Onis |
ISBN:
978-605-399-005-5 |
|
Publisher:
Istanbul Bilgi University Press |
Page:
342 |
|
Type:
Hardcover |
Price:
$ 25 |
|
|
|
Review: |
Over the course of the past three decades, Turkish politics has been experiencing a radical transformation leading to deep-seated changes in the traditional structures. Despite serious studies solely pointing out the domestic variables triggering the process, global and regional influences are undeniable driving forces which necessitate a more complex analysis of the post-1980 period of Turkish politics.
The recent experience of Turkish politics since the 1980s has clearly revealed that global dynamics, such as Turkey's endeavors to be an EU member, exposure of the Turkish economy to impacts of the global market, rise in security concerns related to the fragile geopolitics of Turkey, and new phase for world politics after the September 11 attacks on the one hand, and reconceptualization of Turkish modernity within the context of radical Islam and Kurdish nationalism, new demands for healing the status of civil society organizations and extension of the rights and freedoms on the other, are very much intertwined.
In their recent book, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, Fuat Keyman and Ziya Onis, who are specializing in globalization, democratization, comparative and international political economy, mainly provide an analysis of Turkish politics in a changing world, taking into consideration the far-reaching impacts of global dynamics on domestic transformations.
The book, which can be classified as descriptive, mainly consists of four parts composed of several articles written during the 2002-2005 period. In the first section, Keyman and Onis try to provide the reader a general historical background of modernity in Turkey with reference to the post-1980 developments in Turkish politics. Authors argue that regarding the impacts of external dynamics on Turkish politics, especially in the post 9/11 world context, the intensity of Turkey-EU relations has made a substantial contribution to the articulation of Turkish modernity with democracy. In this regard, Turkey constitutes an interesting experience for achieving the co-existence of Islam, which has recently been perceived as the 'other,' and democratic modernity. The authors draw attention to Turkey's probable contribution to prevent the 'clash of civilizations.'
The second section draws a general framework of Turkey's Europeanization process and points out its positive impacts on the consolidation of Turkish democracy. In the post-Helsinki period, the EU emerged as an ideal anchor, forcing Turkey to move towards a more democratic, economically stable, and pluralist country. However, the authors put forward the argument that Turkey-EU relations are not uni-directional; on the contrary, they have many dimensions and are based on a reciprocal manner. Especially the recent developments, such as the historical enlargement that the EU experienced in 2004 and the war in Iraq which increased the fragmentized views in the entity raised the questions about the Union's future. Thus, the EU-Turkey relations are conveniently exposed to some challenges during the process. The authors claim that a trust based relationship is necessary based on the principles of fairness and reciprocity. In this sense, fairness refers to the impartiality and universality of the full accession negotiations. In other words, Turkey should not be treated as a special case and should be subjected to the same methodology and criteria as the other candidate countries. By putting forward the principle of reciprocity, the authors refer to the relationship between Turkey and the EU, in which the parties have mutual benefits. Turkey may make a significant contribution to the promotion of multiculturalism in Europe, which is governed by universal norms of democracy and liberal economy.
Regarding the democracy consolidation in Turkey, the authors argue that during the establishment of modern Turkey in 1920s, the political elites interpreted modernization as being identical to Westernization. However, the top-down modernization that Turkey experienced and hyper-nationalism and hyper-secularism that formed the backbone of the modernization project, limited the state's capacity to provide a suitable political environment that meets the demands of significant segments of society within the context of an active and participatory model of citizenship. At this point, the Kurdish problem and similar demands of religious minorities came to the fore. Since more attention was paid to the construction of state institutions, the process has failed to advance individual rights and freedoms.
The close relation between political economy and democratic consolidation is another striking theme of the book. The authors provide a general history of the economic restructuring in Turkey and its correlation with the globalization trend in the world. They conclude that although the Turkish economy gained a new impetus during the reformist period after 2002, it still reveals signs of a fragile nature which may be affected by negative impacts of domestic political instability and global economic slowdown. The authors eliminate the hierarchy between the economic growth and democratic consolidation and suggest that these two challenges have an intertwined nature. The economic growth paves the way for democratic consolidation and reciprocally a strengthened democracy without political instabilities also maintains the economic growth.
In the third section, the authors deal with the governing of Turkey in the context of the recent AKP experience and the failure of social democracy in Turkish politics. In the post-election era, the AKP emerged as a political actor which attempted to restructure the "center" in Turkish politics by playing a pro-active and positive role regarding the democratic consolidation, establishing close links with the EU and the other global actors such as IMF and following a multilateral approach in foreign policy, especially with respect to the war in Iraq. Although it increased its legitimacy in the eyes of the international actors through following a reformist approach, it has also faced challenges in domestic politics due to its identity-based past. Attempting to extend the realm of religious freedoms, such as the headscarf problem, but paying less attention to the freedom of speech raised questions about its reformist credentials. In domestic politics, the mistrust has continued to prevail between the secular segments and the party and the AKP's identity formation seems to further the tension.
The existence of these ambiguities provided a suitable political environment for the emergence of a European style social democratic politics which will deal with the continuation of democratization, strengthening links between state and civil society, promoting participatory democracy and coping with the problems of social justice. However, according to the authors, the CHP, which was once perceived to be the forerunner of these ideals, preferred to continue to act as a nationalistic, state-centric party instead of adapting its vision to the contemporary world politics. It couldn't take advantage of its identity free formation.
In the last section, the main focus is put on the social dimension of democratic consolidation in Turkey. Authors analyze the civil society in Turkey, the politics of identity with a special reference to the Kurdish problem and problems such as poverty, inequality, and social injustice. The accelerating globalization since the 1980s was first assumed to be a positive development regarding economic prosperity, democratization, and cultural modernization. However, in the post Cold War world, global problems of inequality and poverty occurred which required global solutions. The authors aim to analyze the impacts of globalization both on the inequality/poverty problem in Turkey and public preferences in Turkish politics.
Turkish Politics in a Changing World is a well written book in terms of presenting a historical, political-economic and sociological analysis towards the change and transformation of Turkish politics in the intersection of global, regional, and national dynamics. Impacts of the increasingly globalized world which recently gained a new dimension framed by the discourse of "clash of civilizations" after 9/11 attacks, on the changing nature of modernity, the perception of democracy and long-lasting relations with West in Turkey, constitute the main themes of the book. According to the authors, the success of political parties in elections is evaluated through their effective engagement with globalization and their responses to the calls originating from the society. In this regard, the AKP's success following the 2007 national elections is put forward to demonstrate the Turkish people's expectation for further democratization, economic prosperity, and the continuation of reform process by pushing forward for the EU membership.
On the other hand, the book falls short in some aspects and its analysis inevitably is restricted to a specific period. In this context, although the book was published in 2007, some of the articles do not cover the period after 2005. Taking into account the stalemate in the relations with the EU and the slowdown in the reform process, some arguments fall short to explain the recent shifts in both internal and foreign politics of Turkey. In previous years, Turkey has experienced on the one hand the changing nature of internal dynamics, namely the Presidential elections, closure cases against two parties in a three party parliament, escalation of terrorist attacks and on the other hand the changing nature of international politics, namely the Russia-Georgia War, the Israel-Palestine War, and the energy conflict between Ukraine and Russia which directly affected the EU countries. These developments led to a sensible shift in Turkish politics and thus some of the predictions of authors couldn't have been met by 2009.
|
|
|
about book: |
Much of the serious and scholarly contributions to the study of Turkish politics have tended to focus more on domestic pressures and actors as the fundamental driving forces in Turkish politics. There is much to learn from these studies concerning Turkish politics and its underlying dynamics. Yet, at the same time, there is a need to re-think Turkish politics at a time when global and regional influences assume increasing importance, making it progressively more difficult to separate domestic politics from international politics and internal from external actors. At a time when "outside" becomes "inside", a major effort needs to be made to analyze Turkish politics both theoretically and historically by paying attention to the interplay of global dynamics and domestic transformations. This way of approaching Turkish politics also enables us to go beyond binary oppositions and providing an understanding of Turkish politics that explicitly takes into account the interactions of the global, regional, national and local forces and processes.
In Turkish Politics in a Changing World, Keyman and Onis provide a historical, sociological and political-economic analysis of Turkish politics by methodologically locating the governing of Turkey at the intersection of global-regional-national-local interactions. Their analysis of Turkish politics, exceptional for its analytical and methodological richness and explanatory power, makes a significant contribution in advancing our understanding of contemporary Turkey. |
|
| |
|
|
Being an
intellectual platform for social sciences, JTW contributes to
this area by promoting new publications in its Book Reviews
section. Publishers can send newly published books to be
reviewed to this section’s
editor. Or else, book reviews are
also welcomed by JTW.
For More Information |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
