Beyond Sacred and Secular
Politics of Religion in Israel and Turkey
Published on 25. July 2008
432 pages
978-0-8047-6315-8 (ISBN)
Description
The global rise of political religion is one of the defining and most puzzling characteristics of current world politics. Since the early 1990s, religious parties have achieved stunning electoral victories around the world.
Beyond Sacred and Secular investigates religious politics and its implications for contemporary democracy through a comparison of political parties in Israel and Turkey. While the politics of Judaism and Islam are typically seen as outgrowths of oppositionally different beliefs, Sultan Tepe's comparative inquiry shows how limiting this understanding of religious politics can be. Her cross-country and cross-religion analysis develops a unique approach to identify religious parties' idiosyncratic and shared characteristics without reducing them to simple categories of religious/secular, Judeo-Christian/Islamic, or democratic/antidemocratic. Tepe shows that religious parties in both Israel and Turkey attract broad coalitions of supporters and skillfully inhabit religious and secular worlds simultaneously. They imbue existing traditional ideas with new political messages, blur conventional political lines and allegiances, offer strategic political choices, and exhibit remarkably similar political views.
This book's findings will be especially relevant to those who want to pass beyond rudimentary typologies to better assess religious parties' capacities to undermine and contribute to liberal democracy. The Israeli and Turkish cases open a window to better understand the complexities of religious parties. Ultimately, this book demonstrates that the characteristics of religious political parties-whether Jewish, Muslim, or yet another religion-can be as striking in their similarities as in their differences.
Beyond Sacred and Secular investigates religious politics and its implications for contemporary democracy through a comparison of political parties in Israel and Turkey. While the politics of Judaism and Islam are typically seen as outgrowths of oppositionally different beliefs, Sultan Tepe's comparative inquiry shows how limiting this understanding of religious politics can be. Her cross-country and cross-religion analysis develops a unique approach to identify religious parties' idiosyncratic and shared characteristics without reducing them to simple categories of religious/secular, Judeo-Christian/Islamic, or democratic/antidemocratic. Tepe shows that religious parties in both Israel and Turkey attract broad coalitions of supporters and skillfully inhabit religious and secular worlds simultaneously. They imbue existing traditional ideas with new political messages, blur conventional political lines and allegiances, offer strategic political choices, and exhibit remarkably similar political views.
This book's findings will be especially relevant to those who want to pass beyond rudimentary typologies to better assess religious parties' capacities to undermine and contribute to liberal democracy. The Israeli and Turkish cases open a window to better understand the complexities of religious parties. Ultimately, this book demonstrates that the characteristics of religious political parties-whether Jewish, Muslim, or yet another religion-can be as striking in their similarities as in their differences.
Reviews / Votes
"Beyond Sacred and Secular is a very well written, very important study with significant findings about religious parties in Israel and Turkey. It should be read by anyone interested in religious political parties and the Middle East. Political sociologists and sociologist of religion, in particular, would find much that is of value in this book" - Ari Adult, American Journals of Sociology."Tepe's book greatly contributes to the discussion about the relationship between religion and secularity in the Nation States... The book is relevant to Social Science and History of the West Mediterranean Basin students, as well as to researchers of political parties and those interested in the religious and secular procedures." - Anat Lapidot-Pirilo, Israeli Sociology.
"Finally, someone has written an original comparison of religiously-oriented politics in the two democracies of the Middle East: Israel and Turkey. There has long been a need for a book like this, and the author has filled the gap with a tour de force. The parallels and contrasts between Israel and Turkey are fascinating. This is a major contribution to the literature." - Martin Sampson, University of Minnesota
"Tepe's clear, convincing analysis provides crucial insights into the power of religion in politics today. This book deserves your attention." - Fuat Keyman, Koc University, Istanbul
"...Professor Tepe has produced a tremendous scholarly work with a firm theoretical background and rich empirical data...Tepe's book is a highly commendable piece of work - a must read for anyone with a serious interest in not only Israeli, Turkish, or Middle Eastern politics but also comparative politics, political parties, and the relationship between the state and religion." - Yueksel Sezgin, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
"This is a unique, timely, relevant, and seminal study ... an in-depth analysis of the role of religion-based parties in an Islamic country - Turkey - and a Jewish country - Israel." - CHOICE
More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Palo Alto
United States
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
13 tables, 13 figures
ISBN-13
978-0-8047-6315-8 (9780804763158)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
07/2008
Stanford University Press
€60.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Sultan Tepe is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Table of Contents
- List of Tables
- Table of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- INTRODUCTION - Beyond Sacred and Secular
- PART ONE - Paradox of Modernity? The Conundrum of Religion in Politics
- CHAPTER ONE - Politics of Religion
- RELIGION AND POLITICS: COMPETING AND COALESCING CONCEPTUALIZATIONS
- BASIC TERMS REVISITED
- THE NEXUS OF RELIGION AND POLITICS
- CONCLUSION
- CHAPTER TWO - Religion in the Making of the Israeli and Turkish Nation-States
- RELIGIOUS IDEAS AND INSTITUTIONS IN ISRAELI AND TURKISH POLITICS
- CONCLUSION
- PART TWO - Ideologues or Pragmatists? The Ideas and Ideologies of Religious Politics
- CHAPTER THREE - Representing the Sacred in Mundane Politics
- MAFDAL: MODERATE RELIGIOUS-ZIONIST PARTY?
- SHAS: AN ENIGMA OR A NOVEL SYNTHESIS IN ISRAELI POLITICS?
- CONCLUSION
- CHAPTER FOUR - Representing Islam in Secular Politics
- THE NATIONALIST ACTION PARTY: A NATIONALIST OR A RELIGIOUS PARTY?
- THE PROSPERITY PARTY: AN ANTISECULAR ISLAMIST OR A POPULIST MASS PARTY?
- THE JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY: A NEW BRAND OF ISLAMIST PARTY?
- CONCLUSION
- PART THREE - The Popular Roots of Religious Parties
- CHAPTER FIVE - Between Zionism and Judaism?
- COMPETING FRAMEWORKS
- MISSING PERSPECTIVES
- SEARCHING FOR ALTERNATIVES: THE IDEOLOGICAL POSITIONING OF RELIGIOUS PARTIES
- CONCLUSION
- CHAPTER SIX - Between Laicism and Islam?
- COMPETING FRAMEWORKS?
- MISSING PERSPECTIVES
- SEARCHING FOR ALTERNATIVES: THE IDEOLOGICAL POSITIONING OF RELIGIOUS PARTIES
- CONCLUSION
- CONCLUSION - Sacro-Secular Encounters
- Notes
- Index
