Liberal Thought and Islamic Politics in Turkey

This book focuses on the transformation of Islamist movements and doctrines in recent Turkish history as well as their convergence with liberal thinking, both intellectually and politically. It discusses the specific brand of liberalism that emerged as an internally coherent doctrine in the 1990s, and traces the ways in which liberal intellectuals created internal coherence and provided justification for the political agenda and increasing power of Islamism. This book combines a detailed analysis of the works by leading liberal and Islamist intellectuals with a more historical analysis of the AKP’s rise to power. Finally, it presents the current political, economic and cultural policies of the AKP government and discusses them in detail.