Turkey's powerful Constitutional Court serves as an administrative attaché of state elites in overseeing the political arena and transforming the society. Looking at the courts as administrative agents suggests that the ruling elite might turn to courts not in an attempt to safeguard their immediate interests, but to transform the society by extending the reach of the state. The authors contend that in countries where the state pursues a civilizing mission, judicial empowerment is an attractive tool for defending the state against powerful segments of the society who might subscribe to different civilizing projects.
Since the start of its tenure, the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) departure from traditional Turkish foreign policy identity has elicited praise and criticism. This article addresses this development by discussing how the AKP has impacted traditional Turkish foreign policy identity, and how, in return, Turkish foreign policy identity has impacted the party identity of the AKP in domestic politics. In particular, this study examines the domestic politics -foreign policy continuum by exploring how foreign policy has served both as an extension of domestic politics as well as a medium to restructure domestic politics during the AKP's three terms in office.
Although regarded as a single community of Islamists, Islamic political movements utilise vastly different means to pursue their goals. This book examines why some Islamic movements facing the same socio-political structures pursue different political paths, while their counterparts in diverse contexts make similar political choices. Based on qualitative fieldwork involving personal interviews with Islamic politicians, journalists, and ideologues – conducted both before and after the Arab Spring – this study draws close comparisons between six Islamic movements in Jordan, Morocco and Turkey. It analyses how some Islamic movements decide to form a political party to run in elections, while their counterparts in the same country reject doing so and instead engage in political activism as a social movement through informal channels. More broadly, this study demonstrates the role of internal factors, ideological priorities and organisational needs in explaining differentiation within Islamic political movements, and discusses its effects on democratisation. In Morocco, this book examines the Movement for Unity and Reform that formed the Party for Justice and Development, and the Justice and Spirituality Movement that eschewed party politics. In Turkey, it examines the National Outlook Movement that is the mother-movement to various Islamic political parties, and the Gülen Movement that has a complicated relationship with incumbent parties. In Jordan, this book examines the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing the Islamic Action Front Party, and the Quietist Salafis rejecting institutional politics.
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