Democracy, Identity and Foreign Policy in Turkey

Reviews / Votes

'Turkish developments in the economic, political and cultural spheres in the last three decades with the rise to dominance of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) have been the focus of increasing attention in scholarship as well as policy. Has the AKP been able to consolidate Turkish democracy or has it led away from it? How have these transformations been affected by the local-global nexi in which Turkey is embedded such as world markets, the EU, the Middle East? This book is a deep and instructive contribution to all these questions and a must-read for those interested in contemporary Turkish politics.'

Seyla Benhabib, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, Department of Political Science, Yale University, USA

'This book is an outstanding contribution to our understanding of recent transformations of Turkey against the background of regional and global transformations. Keyman and Gumuscu provide a compelling account with exemplary lucidity of the ways in which Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) has both steered and followed a new social, economic and cultural path that has significant consequences not only for Turkish democracy but also for the Middle East, Europe and the world.'

Engin Isin, Professor of Politics, Department of Politics and International Studies, Open University, UK

"Keyman and Gumuscu provide an original and up-to-date assessment of Turkey along several important dimensions: its successin economic transformation, its partial, but still incomplete, democratization, and its engagement in an activist regional foreign policy. By regional standards, Turkey looks like a success story in most of these arenas, but this careful analysis shows vulnerable areas as well."

William B. Quandt, Professor Emeritus, Department of Politics, University of Virginia, USA