This book explores the role of religion in the transformation of Turkey under the reign of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP). It attempts to come to terms with the current political crisis in Turkey and the government’s move toward authoritarianism. The chapters included in this book examine various ideological, political and social factors that have driven the transformation of the AKP. The book seeks to answer questions about how and in what direction have the AKP’s objectives and strategies changed in the last two decades the party has been in power, and the divergence between professed ideals and practices.　The book also focuses on the major repercussions that the 15 July 2016 coup d'état attempt has had on key Turkish state institutions and policies, and how it has also affected Turkish foreign policy toward regional and international powers. The book addresses the many gaps and omissions in earlier studies of the AKP, and posits that there have been a more complex set of circumstances impacting Turkish politics since 2002 and that it makes little sense to continue to view Turkish politics as just a clash between Islam and secularism.
Erdoğan’s Turkey is a significant new contribution to the study of Turkish politics and politics in general, and will be a great resource for academics, researchers and advanced students of Political Science, International Relations, History, Geography and Sociology.
The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Middle East Critique.