[Bilimsel Haber] Fwd: Fall 2009 issue of Insight Turkey is now available (Vol. 11, No. 4, 2009)

[onurinal at onurinal.com]

----- Forwarded message from insight at insightturkey.com -----
     Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:57:41 +0200
     From: Insight Turkey <insight at insightturkey.com>
Reply-To: Insight Turkey <insight at insightturkey.com>
  Subject: Fall 2009 issue of Insight Turkey is now available (Vol.  
11, No. 4, 2009)
       To: Insight Turkey <insight at insightturkey.com>


Insight Turkey, Volume 11, Number 4, October - December 2009









  <http://www.insightturkey.com/> Click here to subscribe!


New issue is now available!





NEW KURDISH INITIATIVE: READY FOR A SOLUTION?





MUSLIM DEMOCRACIES: CHANGES AND CHALLENGES





TURKEY IN THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL





TABLE OF CONTENTS





Guest Editor's Note [Full
<http://www.insightturkey.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1
23&Itemid=57>  text]





Commentaries





The Emergence of the 'Government's Perspective on the Kurdish Issue
Umit Cizre, pp. 1-12


The Kurdish Question: The Reasons and Fortunes of the 'Opening'
Cengiz Candar, pp. 13-19  [Full
<http://www.insightturkey.com/Insight_Turkey_2009_4_Cengiz_Candar.pdf>
Text]


Mapping the Pathways: Public Perception and Kurdish Question
Cemalettin Hasimi, pp. 21-27

Articles

A Research Note on Islam, Democracy, and Secularism
Ahmet T. Kuru, pp. 29-40


Democracy in Muslim Contexts: What Africa Can Bring to the Discussion?
Leonardo A. Villalón, pp. 41-50


Islam and Democracy in Indonesia
Michael Buehler, pp. 51-63


Muslim Democratic Parties in Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco: An Economic
Explanation
A. Kadir Yildirim, pp. 65-76


Globalization and the Crisis of Authoritarian Modernization in Turkey
Hasan Kosebalaban, pp. 77-97


The Rise and Decline of the Turkish "Deep State": The Ergenekon Case
Serdar Kaya, pp. 99-113


Charting the Hamas Charter Changes
Mohamed Nimer, pp. 115-130


Peacemaking between America and the Muslim World: A New Beginning?
Nathan C. Funk , pp. 131-150


Turkey in the UN Security Council: Its Elections and Performance
Berdal Aral, pp.151-168



Book Reviews

Vera Costantini and Markus Koller (eds.), Living in the Ottoman Ecumenical
Community: Essays in Honour of Suraiya Faroqhi
Christine Philliou, p. 169


M. Sukru Hanioglu, A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire
Renée Worringer, p. 171


Mustafa Aksakal, The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the
First World War
Virginia H. Aksan, p. 173


Christoph Schuhmann (eds.), Liberal Thought in the Eastern Mediterranean:
Late 19th Century until the 1960s
Jørgen S. Nielsen, p. 175


Sadik Unay, Neo-liberal Globalization and Institutional Reform: The
Political Economy of

Development Planning in Turkey
Ziya Onis, p. 177


Austin Dacey, The Secular Conscience: Why Belief Belongs in Public Life
Jodok Troy, p. 179


Peter Mandaville, Global Political Islam
Leif Stenberg, p. 181


Yakub Halabi, US Foreign Policy in the Middle East: From Crises to Change
Janice J. Terry, p. 182


Othon Anastasakis, Kalypso Nicolaidis and Kerem Oktem (eds.), In The Long
Shadow of Europe: Greeks and Turks in the Era of Postnationalism
Yaprak Gursoy, p. 185


Carol M. Swain (ed.), Debating Immigration
Deniz Sert, p. 187


ABSTRACTS


Commentaries


The Emergence of the 'Government's Perspective on the Kurdish Issue
Umit Cizre
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 1-12

The AK Party's chronic 'political insecurity' may have passed a threshold as
the ruling party resurfaces as an actor taking advantage of its pro-European
Union sentiments to begin a 'grand negotiation' with Turkey's thus-far
publicly shunned Kurdish leaders after decades of bloodshed. This new window
of opportunity could not have emerged without the explosion of the Ergenekon
incident, which has offered a persuasive critique of the closed, dark,
intolerant and secret communities friendly with the military bureaucracy and
state officials but insidiously devoted to destroying the government. In the
post-Ergenekon era, the new democratic opening represents a significant
departure from a military solution to the Kurdish issue which has blocked
civilian imaginations by declaring the Kurdish identity demands as a
security threat to the officially proscribed Turkish identity. The real
issue at stake now for the AK Party government is a redefinition of the
locus and space where the phenomenon of real political power takes place in
Turkey.



The Kurdish Question: The Reasons and Fortunes of the 'Opening'
Cengiz Candar
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 13-19   [Full
<http://www.insightturkey.com/Insight_Turkey_2009_4_Cengiz_Candar.pdf>
Text]

This commentary reflects on the Turkish government's recent 'opening' to
address the Kurdish problem and the domestic, regional and international
conditions that created a conducive environment for this initiative. It
maintains that although the Turkish leadership has grasped the new dynamics
of the regional and domestic developments and changed its conventional
perception of the problem, the initiative is constrained by the fact that it
is motivated by a concern to remove the violent aspect of the Kurdish
question, i.e., terminating the Kurdish insurgency once and for all. It also
suggests that despite the optimism generated by the opening to solve the
Kurdish problem, the achievement of its ultimate objective is far more
complex than seen at the first glance. The commentary places a special
attention on the dilemmas encountered by the Democratic Society Party as it
seeks to represent the demands of its predominantly Kurdish constituency.



Mapping the Pathways: Public Perception and Kurdish Question
Cemalettin Hasimi
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 21-27

The Kurdish initiative announced by the governing Justice and Development
Party has increased the discussions on the proper ways and forms of dealing
with the Kurdish question in Turkey. The announcement acted as an opening of
Pandora's box through which all different images of the problem began to be
manifested simultaneously. Assuming that the public perception would have a
direct impact on the trajectory of the implementation of the initiative,
this essay examines different aspects of the public perception of the issue
by relying on the findings of a joint survey conducted by SETA and Pollmark.
It is contended that effective settlement of the Kurdish question requires
encountering and resolving certain tensions in the public perceptions, which
can be done by achieving a language in which the grammar of politics and the
values that maintain social integration is more transitional and
interdependent.




Articles


A Research Note on Islam, Democracy, and Secularism
Ahmet T. Kuru
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 29-40

This essay examines the validity of the argument that the alleged
theological lack of state-religion separation in Islam is the reason for
authoritarianism in many Muslim-majority countries. The essay criticizes
this argument by showing that a) secularism, in the sense of state-religion
separation, is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for democracy;
b) Islam is not an inherently and exceptionally political religion, and c)
20 out of 46 Muslim-majority states are secular. The essay point out that
rather than analyzing the so-called essence of Islam as prodemocratic or
anti-democratic, it may be more effective to explore the socio-political and
economic conditions that have led to democracy or authoritarianism in
Muslim-majority countries.



Democracy in Muslim Contexts: What Africa Can Bring to the Discussion?
Leonardo A. Villalón
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 41-50

While the question of the relationship between Islam and democracy continues
to attract significant attention from scholars and policymakers, African
cases have been largely absent from these debates. This article argues that
the experiences of sub-Saharan African Muslim societies may nevertheless
have much to contribute to our understanding of democratic prospects in the
Muslim world. Considering the experiences of three Francophone countries of
Sahelian West Africa, it explores the ways in which the democratization
experiments led by secular civil society activists in the early 1990s moved
from the initial resistance of deeply religious Muslim majorities to an
acceptance of democracy as the only legitimating bases of political systems.
The article argues that this was possible due to the significant negotiation
both within religious society and between religious groups and the secular
elite on the actual content of democracy. These cases thus suggest a number
of tentative but important lessons for our understanding of democratic
possibilities in the Muslim world.



Islam and Democracy in Indonesia
Michael Buehler
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 51-63

Islam and democracy are said to be in a relationship fraught with problems
as the former, allegedly, does not allow secular law to be put above divine
law or accept the legitimacy of worldly authorities. This relationship is
less problematic in Indonesia, a democratic Muslim-majority country, the
argument goes, due to the syncretic forms of Islam practiced in the
archipelago state that are less dogmatic, and hence more conducive to
democratic principles. While this is a valuable point, various factors
extraneous to 'moderate Indonesian Islam,' such as a fragmented Islamic
authority in civil society, a weakly institutionalized party system as well
as dynamics triggered by recent institutional reforms all play a role in the
continuing insignificance of political Islam in the country.



Muslim Democratic Parties in Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco: An Economic
Explanation
A. Kadir Yildirim
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 65-76

The recent emergence of Muslim democratic parties such as AKP in Turkey and
PJD in Morocco draws attention to the perennial question on the moderation
of Islamist parties yet again. Economic liberalization and the accompanying
socioeconomic transformation underlie the democratic and liberal turn
political Islam has taken in the Middle East. The precise nature of
liberalization is critical to this moderation. Competitive liberalization,
by enabling peripheral groups to benefit from liberalization, conduces to
the renewed interest in democracy and a liberal system. Crony
liberalization, by reinforcing the archaic rent-seeking relationship between
the state and big business and continuing to marginalize the peripheral
groups from politics and the economy, sustains the interest of peripheral
groups in the reactionary discourse of Islamism. The strength of Muslim
democratic parties is a reflection of competitiveness economic reforms
introduce in the society and the economy.



Globalization and the Crisis of Authoritarian Modernization in Turkey
Hasan Kosebalaban
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 77-97

Conventional models developed through the conceptual lenses of modernization
theory dating back to the 1960s, are no longer applicable to Turkish
politics; they fall short of grasping the changes that Turkish ideologies
experienced in recent decades. In the face of Turkey's growing
democratization and societal modernization, Turkish secularists have lost
their status as agents of reform and gradually emerged as defenders of the
status quo in the face of the rapid mobilization of Anatolian-based
conservative society. However, no factor was more responsible for this
transformation than the comprehensive external and internal structural
changes that Turkey experienced in the post-Cold War era, leading to the
emergence of a globalist conservative ideology in large parts of Anatolia.
This paper examines the question of why those who are commonly associated in
Western scholarly discourse with progress and modernity, have fallen behind
the Muslim conservatives in pursuit of democratization and further
integration of the country with the West. The paper argues that at the root
of the present conflict lies the tension between two modernization routes: a
bureaucratic top-down modernization that has allowed the allocation of
privileges to the secularist/nationalist elites, and the grassroots
socio-economic mobilization of conservative societal elements benefiting
from international integration and globalization.



The Rise and Decline of the Turkish "Deep State": The Ergenekon Case
Serdar Kaya
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 99-113

This article tests Mancur Olson's theory of distributional coalitions
against the case of the Turkish "deep state." Olson's theory holds that
rent-seeking (or specialinterest) groups tend to be exclusive by nature and
pursue only the interests of their own members. Since their members account
to a very small minority, these groups present their interests as being the
interests of larger communities. The article argues that the Turkish case
confirms the fundamental assumptions of the theory of distributional
coalitions. An analysis of the historical process of the newly-exposed
Turkish deep state reveals that, when put in proper context, its clandestine
activities manifest a pattern which involves systematic efforts of an
exclusive circle of group members (1) to impact the workings of Turkish
society, and more recently, (2) to reverse the country's democratization
process in an effort to sustain the network's dominating influence.



Charting the Hamas Charter Changes
Mohamed Nimer
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 115-130

Hamas Charter has sparked a lot of controversy, both inside and outside the
organization. This paper offers a critical analysis of the original Charter
that was issued in 1988. The document attempted to offer an ideology to
counter Zionism, but it advocated views that are essentially anti-Jewish,
xenophobic and outside the mainstream of the scholarly tradition of Islam.
The paper also highlights the contradiction between the search for a just
peace and the language of triumphalism and demonization in the Charter.
Tracing the political development of Hamas since 1992, the paper presents
evidence that current political leaders of Hamas are moving the organization
beyond the ideological rhetoric of the early years of the movement. While
they have abandoned the outdated Charter, they have not developed a credible
perspective on negotiating peace.



Peacemaking between America and the Muslim World: A New Beginning?
Nathan C. Funk
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 131-150

The arrival of the Obama administration has created opportunities for
positive and enduring change in U.S. relations with the Muslim world.
Although early attempts to replace confrontation and ideological
inflexibility with a more circumspect approach rooted in conciliatory
gestures and "enlightened" political realism are encouraging, more
substantial shifts in U.S.-Islamic relations will require commitment to a
strategy of active peacemaking that moves beyond the standard repertoire of
concepts and practices associated with the Cold War's dominant international
relations paradigm. Such a strategy would seek to grasp the potential
inherent in President Obama's stated commitment to founding relations upon
"mutual interest and mutual respect," breaking the present impasse in
U.S.-Islamic relations through principles and prescriptions derived from
academic studies of peacemaking as well as from a critical re-evaluation of
past U.S. policies.



Turkey in the UN Security Council: Its Elections and Performance
Berdal Aral
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp.151-168

Turkey successfully gained provisional membership of the United Nations
Security Council by receiving support from 151 states in the UN General
Assembly. Turkey is serving in the SC for the period between January 1, 2009
and December 31, 2010. This historic achievement was the end product of
arduous efforts on the part of the Erdogan government which has braced
itself for membership of the Security Council since 2003. Membership no
doubt brings Turkey plenty of benefits, like enhancing Turkey's
international political weight and prestige. However, it also poses
challenges to the credibility of Turkey's multi-dimensional and assertive
foreign policy with its strong tinge of fairness. Turkey ought now to take
principled stances on many key issues relevant to international peace and
security even at the cost of disappointing its long list of friends.





For details:  <http://www.insightturkey.com/> www.insightturkey.com







Ihsan DAGI
Editor-in-Chief

Insight Turkey
Resit Galip Cad. Hereke Sokak No: 10
GOP/Cankaya, 06700 Ankara, Turkey
Tel: +90.312.446-51 13 . Fax: +90.312.405-6903
E-mail:  <mailto:insight at insightturkey.com> insight at insightturkey.com

Web:  <mailto:insight at insightturkey.com> insight at insightturkey.com










----- End forwarded message -----

-------------- sonraki bölüm --------------

Insight Turkey, Volume 11, Number 4, October - December 2009


 


 



 <http://www.insightturkey.com/> Click here to subscribe!


New issue is now available!


 


NEW KURDISH INITIATIVE: READY FOR A SOLUTION?


 


MUSLIM DEMOCRACIES: CHANGES AND CHALLENGES


 


TURKEY IN THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL


 


TABLE OF CONTENTS


 


Guest Editor's Note [Full
<http://www.insightturkey.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1
23&Itemid=57>  text]


 


Commentaries


 


The Emergence of the 'Government's Perspective on the Kurdish Issue
Umit Cizre, pp. 1-12


The Kurdish Question: The Reasons and Fortunes of the 'Opening'
Cengiz Candar, pp. 13-19  [Full
<http://www.insightturkey.com/Insight_Turkey_2009_4_Cengiz_Candar.pdf>
Text]


Mapping the Pathways: Public Perception and Kurdish Question
Cemalettin Hasimi, pp. 21-27

Articles

A Research Note on Islam, Democracy, and Secularism 
Ahmet T. Kuru, pp. 29-40


Democracy in Muslim Contexts: What Africa Can Bring to the Discussion? 
Leonardo A. Villalón, pp. 41-50


Islam and Democracy in Indonesia 
Michael Buehler, pp. 51-63


Muslim Democratic Parties in Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco: An Economic
Explanation
A. Kadir Yildirim, pp. 65-76


Globalization and the Crisis of Authoritarian Modernization in Turkey
Hasan Kosebalaban, pp. 77-97


The Rise and Decline of the Turkish "Deep State": The Ergenekon Case 
Serdar Kaya, pp. 99-113


Charting the Hamas Charter Changes
Mohamed Nimer, pp. 115-130


Peacemaking between America and the Muslim World: A New Beginning?
Nathan C. Funk , pp. 131-150


Turkey in the UN Security Council: Its Elections and Performance 
Berdal Aral, pp.151-168



Book Reviews

Vera Costantini and Markus Koller (eds.), Living in the Ottoman Ecumenical
Community: Essays in Honour of Suraiya Faroqhi
Christine Philliou, p. 169


M. Sukru Hanioglu, A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire
Renée Worringer, p. 171


Mustafa Aksakal, The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the
First World War
Virginia H. Aksan, p. 173


Christoph Schuhmann (eds.), Liberal Thought in the Eastern Mediterranean:
Late 19th Century until the 1960s
Jørgen S. Nielsen, p. 175


Sadik Unay, Neo-liberal Globalization and Institutional Reform: The
Political Economy of

Development Planning in Turkey
Ziya Onis, p. 177


Austin Dacey, The Secular Conscience: Why Belief Belongs in Public Life
Jodok Troy, p. 179


Peter Mandaville, Global Political Islam
Leif Stenberg, p. 181


Yakub Halabi, US Foreign Policy in the Middle East: From Crises to Change
Janice J. Terry, p. 182


Othon Anastasakis, Kalypso Nicolaidis and Kerem Oktem (eds.), In The Long
Shadow of Europe: Greeks and Turks in the Era of Postnationalism
Yaprak Gursoy, p. 185


Carol M. Swain (ed.), Debating Immigration
Deniz Sert, p. 187


ABSTRACTS


Commentaries


The Emergence of the 'Government's Perspective on the Kurdish Issue
Umit Cizre
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 1-12

The AK Party's chronic 'political insecurity' may have passed a threshold as
the ruling party resurfaces as an actor taking advantage of its pro-European
Union sentiments to begin a 'grand negotiation' with Turkey's thus-far
publicly shunned Kurdish leaders after decades of bloodshed. This new window
of opportunity could not have emerged without the explosion of the Ergenekon
incident, which has offered a persuasive critique of the closed, dark,
intolerant and secret communities friendly with the military bureaucracy and
state officials but insidiously devoted to destroying the government. In the
post-Ergenekon era, the new democratic opening represents a significant
departure from a military solution to the Kurdish issue which has blocked
civilian imaginations by declaring the Kurdish identity demands as a
security threat to the officially proscribed Turkish identity. The real
issue at stake now for the AK Party government is a redefinition of the
locus and space where the phenomenon of real political power takes place in
Turkey.



The Kurdish Question: The Reasons and Fortunes of the 'Opening' 
Cengiz Candar
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 13-19   [Full
<http://www.insightturkey.com/Insight_Turkey_2009_4_Cengiz_Candar.pdf>
Text]

This commentary reflects on the Turkish government's recent 'opening' to
address the Kurdish problem and the domestic, regional and international
conditions that created a conducive environment for this initiative. It
maintains that although the Turkish leadership has grasped the new dynamics
of the regional and domestic developments and changed its conventional
perception of the problem, the initiative is constrained by the fact that it
is motivated by a concern to remove the violent aspect of the Kurdish
question, i.e., terminating the Kurdish insurgency once and for all. It also
suggests that despite the optimism generated by the opening to solve the
Kurdish problem, the achievement of its ultimate objective is far more
complex than seen at the first glance. The commentary places a special
attention on the dilemmas encountered by the Democratic Society Party as it
seeks to represent the demands of its predominantly Kurdish constituency.



Mapping the Pathways: Public Perception and Kurdish Question
Cemalettin Hasimi
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 21-27

The Kurdish initiative announced by the governing Justice and Development
Party has increased the discussions on the proper ways and forms of dealing
with the Kurdish question in Turkey. The announcement acted as an opening of
Pandora's box through which all different images of the problem began to be
manifested simultaneously. Assuming that the public perception would have a
direct impact on the trajectory of the implementation of the initiative,
this essay examines different aspects of the public perception of the issue
by relying on the findings of a joint survey conducted by SETA and Pollmark.
It is contended that effective settlement of the Kurdish question requires
encountering and resolving certain tensions in the public perceptions, which
can be done by achieving a language in which the grammar of politics and the
values that maintain social integration is more transitional and
interdependent.




Articles


A Research Note on Islam, Democracy, and Secularism 
Ahmet T. Kuru
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 29-40

This essay examines the validity of the argument that the alleged
theological lack of state-religion separation in Islam is the reason for
authoritarianism in many Muslim-majority countries. The essay criticizes
this argument by showing that a) secularism, in the sense of state-religion
separation, is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for democracy;
b) Islam is not an inherently and exceptionally political religion, and c)
20 out of 46 Muslim-majority states are secular. The essay point out that
rather than analyzing the so-called essence of Islam as prodemocratic or
anti-democratic, it may be more effective to explore the socio-political and
economic conditions that have led to democracy or authoritarianism in
Muslim-majority countries.



Democracy in Muslim Contexts: What Africa Can Bring to the Discussion?
Leonardo A. Villalón
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 41-50

While the question of the relationship between Islam and democracy continues
to attract significant attention from scholars and policymakers, African
cases have been largely absent from these debates. This article argues that
the experiences of sub-Saharan African Muslim societies may nevertheless
have much to contribute to our understanding of democratic prospects in the
Muslim world. Considering the experiences of three Francophone countries of
Sahelian West Africa, it explores the ways in which the democratization
experiments led by secular civil society activists in the early 1990s moved
from the initial resistance of deeply religious Muslim majorities to an
acceptance of democracy as the only legitimating bases of political systems.
The article argues that this was possible due to the significant negotiation
both within religious society and between religious groups and the secular
elite on the actual content of democracy. These cases thus suggest a number
of tentative but important lessons for our understanding of democratic
possibilities in the Muslim world.



Islam and Democracy in Indonesia
Michael Buehler
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 51-63

Islam and democracy are said to be in a relationship fraught with problems
as the former, allegedly, does not allow secular law to be put above divine
law or accept the legitimacy of worldly authorities. This relationship is
less problematic in Indonesia, a democratic Muslim-majority country, the
argument goes, due to the syncretic forms of Islam practiced in the
archipelago state that are less dogmatic, and hence more conducive to
democratic principles. While this is a valuable point, various factors
extraneous to 'moderate Indonesian Islam,' such as a fragmented Islamic
authority in civil society, a weakly institutionalized party system as well
as dynamics triggered by recent institutional reforms all play a role in the
continuing insignificance of political Islam in the country.



Muslim Democratic Parties in Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco: An Economic
Explanation 
A. Kadir Yildirim
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 65-76

The recent emergence of Muslim democratic parties such as AKP in Turkey and
PJD in Morocco draws attention to the perennial question on the moderation
of Islamist parties yet again. Economic liberalization and the accompanying
socioeconomic transformation underlie the democratic and liberal turn
political Islam has taken in the Middle East. The precise nature of
liberalization is critical to this moderation. Competitive liberalization,
by enabling peripheral groups to benefit from liberalization, conduces to
the renewed interest in democracy and a liberal system. Crony
liberalization, by reinforcing the archaic rent-seeking relationship between
the state and big business and continuing to marginalize the peripheral
groups from politics and the economy, sustains the interest of peripheral
groups in the reactionary discourse of Islamism. The strength of Muslim
democratic parties is a reflection of competitiveness economic reforms
introduce in the society and the economy.



Globalization and the Crisis of Authoritarian Modernization in Turkey 
Hasan Kosebalaban
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 77-97

Conventional models developed through the conceptual lenses of modernization
theory dating back to the 1960s, are no longer applicable to Turkish
politics; they fall short of grasping the changes that Turkish ideologies
experienced in recent decades. In the face of Turkey's growing
democratization and societal modernization, Turkish secularists have lost
their status as agents of reform and gradually emerged as defenders of the
status quo in the face of the rapid mobilization of Anatolian-based
conservative society. However, no factor was more responsible for this
transformation than the comprehensive external and internal structural
changes that Turkey experienced in the post-Cold War era, leading to the
emergence of a globalist conservative ideology in large parts of Anatolia.
This paper examines the question of why those who are commonly associated in
Western scholarly discourse with progress and modernity, have fallen behind
the Muslim conservatives in pursuit of democratization and further
integration of the country with the West. The paper argues that at the root
of the present conflict lies the tension between two modernization routes: a
bureaucratic top-down modernization that has allowed the allocation of
privileges to the secularist/nationalist elites, and the grassroots
socio-economic mobilization of conservative societal elements benefiting
from international integration and globalization.



The Rise and Decline of the Turkish "Deep State": The Ergenekon Case 
Serdar Kaya
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 99-113

This article tests Mancur Olson's theory of distributional coalitions
against the case of the Turkish "deep state." Olson's theory holds that
rent-seeking (or specialinterest) groups tend to be exclusive by nature and
pursue only the interests of their own members. Since their members account
to a very small minority, these groups present their interests as being the
interests of larger communities. The article argues that the Turkish case
confirms the fundamental assumptions of the theory of distributional
coalitions. An analysis of the historical process of the newly-exposed
Turkish deep state reveals that, when put in proper context, its clandestine
activities manifest a pattern which involves systematic efforts of an
exclusive circle of group members (1) to impact the workings of Turkish
society, and more recently, (2) to reverse the country's democratization
process in an effort to sustain the network's dominating influence.



Charting the Hamas Charter Changes 
Mohamed Nimer
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 115-130

Hamas Charter has sparked a lot of controversy, both inside and outside the
organization. This paper offers a critical analysis of the original Charter
that was issued in 1988. The document attempted to offer an ideology to
counter Zionism, but it advocated views that are essentially anti-Jewish,
xenophobic and outside the mainstream of the scholarly tradition of Islam.
The paper also highlights the contradiction between the search for a just
peace and the language of triumphalism and demonization in the Charter.
Tracing the political development of Hamas since 1992, the paper presents
evidence that current political leaders of Hamas are moving the organization
beyond the ideological rhetoric of the early years of the movement. While
they have abandoned the outdated Charter, they have not developed a credible
perspective on negotiating peace.



Peacemaking between America and the Muslim World: A New Beginning? 
Nathan C. Funk 
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp. 131-150

The arrival of the Obama administration has created opportunities for
positive and enduring change in U.S. relations with the Muslim world.
Although early attempts to replace confrontation and ideological
inflexibility with a more circumspect approach rooted in conciliatory
gestures and "enlightened" political realism are encouraging, more
substantial shifts in U.S.-Islamic relations will require commitment to a
strategy of active peacemaking that moves beyond the standard repertoire of
concepts and practices associated with the Cold War's dominant international
relations paradigm. Such a strategy would seek to grasp the potential
inherent in President Obama's stated commitment to founding relations upon
"mutual interest and mutual respect," breaking the present impasse in
U.S.-Islamic relations through principles and prescriptions derived from
academic studies of peacemaking as well as from a critical re-evaluation of
past U.S. policies.



Turkey in the UN Security Council: Its Elections and Performance 
Berdal Aral
Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No.4, 2009, pp.151-168

Turkey successfully gained provisional membership of the United Nations
Security Council by receiving support from 151 states in the UN General
Assembly. Turkey is serving in the SC for the period between January 1, 2009
and December 31, 2010. This historic achievement was the end product of
arduous efforts on the part of the Erdogan government which has braced
itself for membership of the Security Council since 2003. Membership no
doubt brings Turkey plenty of benefits, like enhancing Turkey's
international political weight and prestige. However, it also poses
challenges to the credibility of Turkey's multi-dimensional and assertive
foreign policy with its strong tinge of fairness. Turkey ought now to take
principled stances on many key issues relevant to international peace and
security even at the cost of disappointing its long list of friends.


 


For details:  <http://www.insightturkey.com/> www.insightturkey.com 


 


 

Ihsan DAGI
Editor-in-Chief

Insight Turkey
Resit Galip Cad. Hereke Sokak No: 10
GOP/Cankaya, 06700 Ankara, Turkey
Tel: +90.312.446-51 13 . Fax: +90.312.405-6903
E-mail:  <mailto:insight at insightturkey.com> insight at insightturkey.com

Web:  <mailto:insight at insightturkey.com> insight at insightturkey.com 


 

 

 

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