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Islamic Political Identity in Turkey (Religion and Global Politics)

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Hakan Yavuz takes his reader's into a detailed journey into the largely unknown aspects of Islamic movements in Turkey. So far Islamic movements both in Turkey and elsewhere have been discussed with a bias on political movements. Yavuz' book is important in the sense that it also covers social Islamic movements, most specifically the Nurcu movement in Turkey. What I like about this book is its theoretical framework that takes on the traditional modernist perspective's dichotomous understanding of modernity and tradition. highly recommended to any student of Islam and Turkey.

The illiterate readers, (considering their spelling and grammar),who gave this path breaking book negative reviews obviously have some axe to grind while lacking any graduate level training in political science or contemporary Turkish politics and society. While the bookshelves are filled with the pap produced by third rate journalist and instant pundits on Islam and politics, this contribution is a serendipitous discovery. Yavuz is the first to have conducted indepth field work on the gamut of Turkish Islamic political and social movements. He has obviously mastered the theoretical literature on political development and transitions to democracy. He applies these insights in a novel fashion in being the first Western based scholar to predict the rise of the current AKP party of PM Erdogan into power. Yavuz shows the conditions under which oppositional Islamic movements can move toward the promotion of democratic reforms and pluralism and liberalism more generally. Given the present mess in the Middle East and Iraq, the theoretical insights of this book are absolutely vital in discerning the conditions under which Islamic political and social movements may achieve compatibility with liberal democratic norms and modernity. In addition to scholars of modern Turkey and the Middle East, this book should be required reading for all American policy makers dealing with the wider region.

A well-crafted comprehensive look at the role of Islam in Turkey. The book offers some original and compelling explanations regarding the social transformation that Turkey has experienced since the 1980s. Specifically, the author mentions the role of opportunity spaces in the evolution of Islamic movements and ideas as a result of economic and political liberalization.I think anyone who is interested in Turkey, Islamic movements, and the relationship between Islam and modernity would get a great deal out of this book.

M. Hakan Yavuz's book Islamic Political Identity in Turkey claims that the reconstitution or re-imagining of identity is not contingent upon historical context and political forces, but rather constructed by them. Islamic movements in Turkey has developed when the state liberalized, filling the space by politicizing religion and changing the terms of politics to be applicable to their context. Yavuz offers an informative and readable scholarly work, but his re-contextualization of Turkish Islamic identity ultimately muddles his constructivist claims.
The historical background for the thesis is plentiful, though not always objective. Yavuz explains that the autocratic Kemalist regime of Ataturk embarked upon a modernization and secularization program that did not impact rural, traditional identities. Indeed, the state appeared to be completely hostile to religion and its thwarting of attempts at political and religious organization in the early days of the republic. Islam was initially a way of challenging the imposed secularism of the government and it remains "a debate about the boundary of state and society, the public and private" (31). Furthermore, economic and political liberalization over the history of Turkey allowed for "opportunity spaces" where "identities and lifestyles are performed, contested, and implemented" (24). Within these spaces, mechanisms such as the modern press, educational institutions and the Internet allowed for Islamic identity construction. Islam was also, at times, used as a tool of the parties in power, such as the military in the 1980s, who developed an Islamist-Turkish synthesis. Yavuz explains that Islamic groups articulate their version of "the good life" in a constant give and take with what the state offers. He does not suggest that Islam filled the so-called opportunity spaces because of piety and ethical concerns alone -- in fact, his schema for classifying movements seems to disapprove of internally focused groups who do not make social change their objective.
Yavuz's organization of the book, particularly his introductory chapters, were helpful for advancing the framework necessary for his conclusion, with the exception of some confusing technicalities. He claims his academic work is beyond the "essentialist" and "contextualist" scholarship that preceded it but goes on to give a period by period account of the politicization of Islamic identity in Turkey. In this sense, at least the first three chapters are "contextualist." That the historical context is a crucial factor leading up to his explanation of Islamic groups is evidence that the method is useful.
Yavuz's scholarship on Turkey seemed legitimate, though he could have used a bit more theory regarding identity construction rather than interspersing it repetitively within each case study. Also the text often borders on polemic when it discusses Kemalism and Yavuz repeats the same factors in the dissemination of Islamic groups information and growth and ends up with some superfluous discussion of print in Islamic discourse. The book could have been shorter, though it is still worthy of reading if one is an academic interested in an interdisciplinary take on the evolution of Islamic groups. It might be an arduous task for a person without an academic interest in Turkey. The book would also be particularly helpful for students looking for a unique take on Turkish modernity, provided they are prepared for Yavuz's subjectivity on Kemalism.
Yavuz's depiction of Kemalism is such that the state appears homogenous and monolithic while religion is described ad nauseam as fluid and evolving. Perhaps Islam in Turkey is more open to change than the state apparatus and ideology, but it is necessary to note that the re-imagination of which Yavuz speaks also operates in response to a state-controlled, political level when the government allows for intermittent democratization. The evolution of the Kemalist state seems a closed, well-defined project when it was really a mix of policies, sometimes ad-hoc, aimed at modernization. The beginning of the program certainly had specific objectives (the "Six Arrows") which profoundly impacted some elements of Turkish society, but the irony is that the evolution of the republican establishment was instrumental in the construction of the pluralistic Islam Yavuz applauds.
Thus the most memorable element of Yavuz's entire book in my opinion was not the Islamic political movements, but rather the impact of the Ottoman state and the continuity of state tradition aimed at rationalizing and homogenizing Turkey throughout the Kemalist regime. This lends itself not so much to the conclusion that Islamic groups are beneficial for society, but that they have developed uniquely in one particular case as the result of a continual history of cooptation and exclusion by the state. When identity is defined in the same political space as such a state, the difference between causation and construction is less straightforward. As in Said Arjomand's book, the Turban for the Crown, a government-led modernizing project appears to be the nexus around which social movements come into being and evolve, whether in opposition or in filling open space delegated to them by the government.

This is the best book on contemporary Islamic movements in Turkey. Yavuz, who is the leading scholar of Turkish politics and Islam, offers a new conceptual framework, a typology to map Islamic movements and identifies the conditions under which these movement become more democratic and pluralist. Moreover, the book argues that the history of the post-1980 Turkey is about the formation of opportunity spaces and their socio-political implications. The key concept of the book is the "opportunity spaces" and this book must be read by everyone who studies Islam, identity, and politics in Turkey.

this item was delivered very quickly, and the condition was excellent when i received it.

Baba Kemal of Kamal Ataturk changed the political and Islamic face of Turkey.
Was is a great leader? Absolutely!
Did he harm the Islamic identity in Turkey? Absolutely not.
This book presents all these issues.
It is rich in historical facts.
A great addition to any library on the history of Anatolia and Islam.

The title gives you an idea of having a very promissing book, but after you read, it doesn't make any sense at all.The book is a repetition of Resat Kasaba, Nilufer Gole, John Esposito, Graham Fuller etc.So, instead of wasting $50 bucks and days of torture of reading, I would suggest to go for the scholars that are more relevant with the topic.It seems that Yavuz looks at every islamic movement through "political" glasses even the fact Gulen and Suleymanci movements have nothing to do with it.Or seing every single movement in Turkey through Naksibendi Sufi Order mind might be because he couldn't produce any idea but stick with his Ph.D thesis as a promissing future(!).Besides, the book was just relaesed but it's already outdated with the fast changing pace of Turkey.The Gulen movement is not "national" and "turkish" anymore or the RP's fast up-and-down move is not possible to explained with Yavuz's "constractivist" ideology, even he tries to cover that with AKP's success in the last chapter. He should get more help from his Pol-Sci students if he really want be a well-known scholar.

This book tries to asses Islamic identity to non believers and tries to show the relations between Islam and Secularism which are not exist in either. To me, some truths have been modified to fit into a category. I do not think this book worth of buying for 50 bucks.