INTL 406
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN TURKISH POLITICS
Monday-Wednesday: 12:30-13:45
CAS Z48
Inst: Prof. Fuat Keyman, CAS152, phone:1730
Course Assistant: Nuray Özbay, CAS171A
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday: 14:00-15:00
This course deals with the significant and contemporary issues/topics/ problems that
confront the process of the “consolidation of democracy” in contemporary Turkey. In
doing so, it aims at advancing our analytical and historical thinking about the
changing nature and the current structure of Turkish Politics. The course is organized
around a number of topics that have become crucial in Turkish Politics since the
1980s, but especially in the 1990s and today. For this reason, in its aim to advance our
understanding of contemporary Turkish Politics, the course will discuss in a
comprehensive fashion such crucial issues and problems as economic change,
political development and the return of culture. The course attempts to discuss these
issues and problems by locating them at the international/the domestic nexus. For this
reason, the course is based on lectures and discussions, and active student
participation and the reading of course material before attending the lectures are
expected and required.
The Text:
E.F. Keyman and Ziya Öniş, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, İstanbul Bilgi
University Publications, İstanbul, 2007.
The course material is also available as reserved in the library.
The Evaluation:
(% 5) Attandance (those who attend less than %75 of the classes would receive the
failing grade of F)
( % 25) Midterm Exam
( % 30) Group Project (The students are expected to form of a group, to choose a topic
by consulting with the instructor and to prepare a paper (25-30 pages).
( % 40) Final Exam
TOPICS
WEEK (1) Introduction to Contemporary Turkish Politics (I)
(04-06, February, 2008)
E.F. Keyman and Ziya Öniş, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, İstanbul Bilgi
University Publications, İstanbul, 2007, chp.1, pp:1-6.
WEEK (2) Introduction to Contemporary Turkish Politics (II)
(11-13, February, 2008)
E.F. Keyman and Ziya Öniş, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, İstanbul Bilgi
University Publications, İstanbul, 2007, chp.2, pp:7-21.
WEEK (3) Turkish Politics and Change (I)
Political Change and the Party System
(18-20, February, 2008)
E. Özbudun, Contemporary Turkish Politics, Lynne Reinner, Boulder, 2000, chp.4,
pp:73-103.
WEEK (4) Turkish Politics and Change (II)
Political Regime Breakdowns
(25-27, February, 2008)
E. Özbudun, Contemporary Turkish Politics, Lynne Reinner, Boulder, 2000, chp.5,
pp:105-123.
WEEK (5) Turkish Politics and Change (III)
Foreign policy and security
(03-05, March, 2008)
E.F. Keyman and Ziya Öniş, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, İstanbul Bilgi
University Publications, İstanbul, 2007, chp.4, pp:57-80.
S. Stephen Larrabee and I. Lesser, Turkish Foreign Policy in the Age of Uncertainity,
Rand, Santa Monica, 2003, chp.1 and chp.2, pp: 1-44.
March 10-12, 2008: FIRST MIDTERM EXAM (25%)
WEEK (6) Issues and Problems (I)
Globalization, Integration and Turkey
(17-19, March, 2008)
E.F. Keyman and Ziya Öniş, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, İstanbul Bilgi
University Publications, İstanbul, 2007, chp.3and 5, pp: 25-55 and 81-100.
WEEK (7) Issues and Problems (II)
Globalization, Economic Change and Crisis
(24-26March, 2008)
E.F. Keyman and Ziya Öniş, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, İstanbul Bilgi
University Publications, İstanbul, 2007, chp 6 and 7, pp: 101-158.
WEEK (8) Issues and Problems (III)
The Resurgence of Religion and the AKP Experience
(31 March-02 April, 2008)
E.F. Keyman and Ziya Öniş, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, İstanbul Bilgi
University Publications, İstanbul, 2007, chp. 8 and 9, pp: 161-210.
APRIL 7-13, 2008: SPRING BREAK
WEEK (9) Issues and Problems (IV)
The Problem of the Center and the CHP experience
(14-16, April, 2008)
E.F. Keyman and Ziya Öniş, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, İstanbul Bilgi
University Publications, İstanbul, 2007, chp. 10, pp: 211-238.
A. Özman and S. Coşar, “Reconceptualizing Center Politics in post-1980 Turkey:
Transformation or Continuity?” in E.F. Keyman (ed) Remaking Turkey, Lexington,
Lanham, 2007, chp.6, pp:201-226.
April 21, 2008: Course Review
WEEK (10) Issues and Problems (V)
Ethnic Problem
(28-30, April, 2008)
E.F. Keyman and Ziya Öniş, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, İstanbul Bilgi
University Publications, İstanbul, 2007, chp.13, pp: 289-316.
M. Somer, “Defensive and Liberal Nationalisms:The Kurdish Question and
Modernization/Democratization”, in E.F. Keyman (ed) Remaking Turkey, Lexington,
Lanham, 2007, chp.6, pp:103-135.
WEEK (11) Issues and Problems (VI)
The Problem of Civil Society and Citizenship
(05-07, May, 2008)
E.F. Keyman and Ziya Öniş, Turkish Politics in a Changing World, İstanbul Bilgi
University Publications, İstanbul, 2007, chp12, pp:267-287.
A. İçduygu, “The Anatomy of Civil society in Turkey: Toward a Transformation”, in
E.F. Keyman (ed) Remaking Turkey, Lexington, Lanham, 2007, chp.9, pp:179-197.
WEEK (12) Conclusion
(12-14, May, 2008)
FINAL EXAM (40%)