1st Edition

Modern Turkey People, State and Foreign Policy in a Globalised World

By Bill Park Copyright 2012
    272 Pages
    by Routledge

    272 Pages
    by Routledge

    This exciting new textbook provides a broad and comprehensive overview of contemporary Turkey. Placing the country and its people within the context of a rapidly globalizing world, the book covers a diverse range of themes such as politics, economics, international relations, the Turkic world, religion and recent historical background.

    Tracing the evolution of Turkey’s domestic political and economic systems, and its foreign policy, from the inception of the republic to the present day, the themes covered include:

    • the impact of globalization on Turkey’s society, politics, economy and foreign policy
    • the role of the EU and the Turkish diaspora in the evolution of Turkish policies
    • the main features and prominent role of Kemalism
    • turkish foreign policy, and the new challenges and opportunities brought by the end of the cold war
    • the position of Turkey as a ‘bridge’ between East and West, and the particular and unique dilemmas confronting a Muslim but economically developed, democratized state allied to the West
    • Kurdish identity
    • the Fethullah Gulen movement and the Armenian ‘genocide’.

    Situating the country as a ‘model’ for the wider Muslim world, this sophisticated analysis of one of the largest and most important states in the Middle East will be an invaluable resource for scholars and officials interested in Turkish politics and US foreign and security policies, and for students of the Balkan, Middle Eastern, Caucasus and Central Asian regions.

    1. Introduction: Globalization, Turks and Turkey  2. The Kemalist Legacy: Cult, Ideology and Political Practice  3. Kemalism and State Security  4. Turkey’s Europeanization: A Journey Without an Arrival?  5. From Autarky to Globalization: Turkey’s Economic Transition  6. Turkey and the Kurdish Issue: A Transnationalized Domestic Problem  7. A New Foreign Policy For A Globalized Age?  8. Turkey Between East and West: A Bridge or Afloat?  9. Between Consumers and Producers: Turkey as an Energy Bridge?  10. The Armenian Genocide: A Foreign Policy Problem in a Globalized World  11. Migration, Turkey and Turks  12. The Fethullah Gulen Movement (and Turkish Al Qaeda) as Transnational Phenomena  13. Conclusions

    Biography

    Bill Park is Senior Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department of the War Studies Group, King's College, London University.

    "This is a welcome and timely book by a foremost scholar of Turkey's contemporary history and politics. Park stresses the challenges, successes, and geopolitical and other impediments confronting Turkey as it strives to become one of the top 15 global economies. Summing Up: Highly recommended." Choice