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POLS SPECIAL TOPIC
SENIOR AND UNDERGRADUATE SEMINAR
SYLLABUS
TURKEY’S POLITICS: A MODEL FOR EGYPT’S FUTURE?
Dr. Dan Tschirgi: Instructor
Office: 2020 HUSS BLDG.; Tel. ext. 1903
E-mail: tschirgi@aucegypt.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment
This upper level (graduate-undergraduate) seminar has as its focus the question asked in the course’s
title.
The widespread claim that Turkey’s modern political trajectory establishes that country as a viable
model to be emulated by countries in the Arab world, particularly in the face of rising Islamist currents
after the seminal 1967 Six-Day War War against Israel, has recently been questioned. In regard to Egypt,
for example, the applicability of the so-called “Turkish model” was challenged at the start of 2013:
The effective balance, [between Islamic ideological
preferences and a political desire to rule] though difficult to find,
is not impossible. Turkey’s government is a well-known success
story in this regard. But Turkey is not Egypt, and Turks are not
Egyptians.1
The overall purpose of the seminar is to allow participants to move toward answering the core question
specified above. It is important to acknowledge the reality that the seminar’s focus requires reasoned
speculation. There is, therefore, no single, or “correct” answer to the operative organizing question. In
the course of this semester, participants will have ample opportunity to familiarize themselves with the
recent history of Turkey and the nature of contemporary Turkish politics, society and economics. At the
same time, participants will be expected to use, and improve, their existing levels of familiarity with
corresponding elements of the realities of Egypt and the Arab World to make factually-based
comparisons that will help in developing answers to the seminar’s central query.
Participants’ Responsibilities
Any seminar is a collective effort to solve a specific problem, or set of problems. Only once this is clearly
understood by all participants, can a seminar come to life and begin moving toward answering the
central query. This, of course, means that every member of the seminar must actively engage in several
types of important activities. Among these are, first, fulfilling the obvious requirement of not only
attending all weekly meetings of the seminar, but also arriving at each meeting fully prepared—which
entails having read and critically considered the content of all assignments, as well as a readiness to
contribute to the discussions that will mark the seminar’s main activity throughout the semester.
“Contribution” is a key concept in any seminar, and all members must understand that they are more
1 Tschirgi, Walid Kazziha, and Sean McMahon, “Conclusion: Egypt in the Balance,” in Dan Tschirgi, Walid Kazziha,
and Sean McMahon, Egypt’s Tahrir Revolution, (Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, CO and London, UK: 2013), p.
263.
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than welcome to contribute anything and everything that helps the group meet the seminar’s objective:
such contributions include, but are not limited to, the following: ideas, reading and other material that
may prove useful, visitors and guests who may have contributions of their own to make, and/or
anything else.
Evaluation
There will be one partial exam, at some point in the latter part of the semester that is to be mutually
agreed in the seminar, there will be at least one oral report on an assigned topic, and there will be a
final project (which may take the form of an in-class exam), and—of course—there is the instructor’s
assessment of each seminar member’s participation. The weights of these are as follow:
Partial Exam………………....15%
Oral Report……………………25%
Final Project…………………..40%
Participation…………………..20%
Texts
Quite obviously, there can be no single text for a seminar such as this. Readings for this seminar will be
found on Blackboard as well as on the web. Please see the attached list of “Required Readings.”
A prepared “Schedule of Readings” will be distributed in class during on the seminar’s early meetings.
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Required Readings
Steven A. Cook, Ruling But Not Governing: The Military and Political Development in Egypt, Algeria and
Turkey, (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007). E-BOOK
Sina Aksin, “The Nature of the Kemalist Revolution,” in International Conference: Ataturk and Modern
Turkey, (Ankara: Ankara University Faculty of Political Science, 1998) [HEREAFTER CITED AS
CONFERENCE], pp. 19-29.
Roberto Gonzalez Gomez, Kemal Ataturk: “The Emergence of Modern Turkey,” CONFERENCE, pp. 29-40
Kamal Abu Jaber, “Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,” CONFERENCE, 85-90.
Carter V. Findley, “Reflections on the Early Turkish Republic in World-Historical Perspective,”
CONFERENCE, pp. 91-98.
Justin McCARTHY, “Population Change and the Creation of the Turkish Republic,” CONFERENCE, pp. 509524.
Dan Tschirgi, “Turkey’s Challenges in the Arab World,” CONFERENCE, pp. 589-600.
Robert Anciaux, “The Foreign Policy of Turkey in the Middle East and the Actuality of Ataturk’s Thought:
From the Pact of Saadabad to the Peace Process, CONFERENCE, pp. 601-12.
Geoffrey Lewis, Bilmeyen Ne Bilsen Bizin, 781-87.
Tschirgi, Walid Kazziha, and Sean McMahon, Egypt’s Tahrir Revolution, (Lynne Rienner Publishers,
Boulder, CO and London, UK: 2013), p. 263.
Sherine ElGhatit, “Revolution Without Islamists?” In Dan Tschirgi, Walid Kazziha, and Sean McMahon,
Egypt’s Tahrir Revolution, (Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, CO and London, UK: 2013), p. 109.
Sean F. McMahon, “Egypt’s Social Forces, the State, and the Middle East Order,” in Dan Tschirgi, Walid
Kazziha, and Sean F. McMahon, Egypt’s Tahrir Revolution, (Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, CO and
London, UK: 2013), p. 151.
Dan Tschirgi, Walid Kazziha, and Sean McMahon, “Conclusion: Egypt in the Balance,” in Dan Tschirgi,
Walid Kazziha, and Sean McMahon, Egypt’s Tahrir Revolution, (Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, CO
and London, UK: 2013), p. 263.
Dan Tschirgi, “Turkey and the Arab World: Regional Partners or Rivals in the 21st Century,” in Mustafa
Aydin, Turkey at the Threshold of the 21st Century, (Ankara: International Relations Foundation, 1998),
pp. 105-119.
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Downloadable Required Sources
Hesham Sallam, “Obsessed With Turkish Models in Egypt,” www.madamasr.com/content/obsessedturkish-models-egypt
Sebnem Gumuscu, “Egypt Can’t Replicate The Turkish Model: But It Can Learn From It,”
http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/2012/01/12/egypt-can-t-replicate-turkish-model-but-it-can-learnfrom-it/8z6z
Zenonas Tziarras, “ Turkey-Egypt: Turkish Model, Political Culture and Regional Power Struggle,” Online
at: https://www.academia.edu/4926354/TurkeyEgypt_Turkish_Model_Political_Culture_and_Regional_Power_Struggle