Political Islam and the Secular State in Turkey

ISBN: 9781780769233 出版年：2014 页码：299 Evangelia Axiarlis Bloomsbury Publishing

How safe is Turkey's liberal democracy? The rise to power right-leaning Islamic Justice and Development Party ignited fears in the Wecould no longer be relied upon to provide a buffer against the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle Eastby the West as a model of secularism and moderation in the Muslim world, Turkey is now seen to be under the influence of the 'creeping Islamisation' of the JDP (or AKP as it is known in Turkey). Yet has this affected the lives of Turkish citizens? Evangelia Axiarlis here explores the contribution of the JDP to civil liberties and basic freedoms, long suppressed by secular and statist Kemalist ideology, and how this has remained unexamined despidecade in government. In this - the first detailed study of the policies and ideology of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's government - the author examines the extent to which the JDP has worked to improve civil life in Turkey and critically addresses whether a government built on Islamic principles can champion political reform.Exploring how Islam and democracy are neither monoliths nor mutually exclusive, thcontribution to the wider understanding of political Islam.