US concept wars,civil liberties and the technologies of fortification

The horrific events of September 11, 2001 led to calls for the deployment of state-of-the-art security systems and the creation of an “invisible shield” to protect America. Such proposals immediately triggered debate about the constitutional ethics of surveillance in the United States. While there has been widespread support for the surrender of some cherished civil liberties in the war against terror, surveillance, especially the visual variety, is still seen to be innately un-American. Technologies like biometric face recognition systems, critics argue, are not consistent with the values of an open society and should consequently be considered with great caution. The widespread introduction of such invasive technology, pundits claim, would signal a victory for the terrorists.Many American commentators fail to recognize, however, that the United States, far from being the open society they imagine, has long been characterized by exclusion. Moreover, such exclusion is increasingly enforced by the same high technology of which biometrics is a part. In fact, for at least a decade before the declaration of the war on terror, the United States has been undergoing a multifaceted process of fortification both within its cities and at the US-Mexican frontier. Investigation of this phenomena reveals the central role of the US’s longest running concept war, the war on drugs. This paper argues that within this narrative biometric surveillance and the creation of “an invisible wall” should not be regarded as a break with American traditions but as the next organic phase of an ongoing process of fortifying the United States.     

A history of Turkey’s AKP-Gülen conflict

Although organized independently, both the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalk?nma Partisi, AKP) and the Gülen Movement (GM) have primarily addressed the same base and acted as mediums of upward mobility for Sunni Anatolian conservatives. Targeted by the old secular establishment, AKP and GM forged a mutually beneficial relationship in 2000s, with the former’s political office reinforcing the latter’s social and bureaucratic power and vice versa. Nevertheless, with the demise of their common enemy, this marriage of convenience gradually turned into a brutal fight, as epitomized in the abortive coup of 15 July. This profile provides a critical history of AKP and GM relations, illustrating how and why the image of Gülenists has changed in AKP’s projection from a faith-based community to a terrorist organization.     

Two elections and a political regime in crisis: Turkish politics at the crossroads

Turkey had its fourth National Assembly elections on 7 June 2015 in the twenty-first century and this time they resulted in a hung parliament. The efforts at establishing a coalition government failed and the country moved to a snap, ‘repeat’ election on 1 November 2015. This paper focuses on how the voters registered their party preferences almost 5 months apart in the same legislative general elections and why. Using the same sample and interviewing those who lived at the same addresses as those in the ISSP Citizenship survey conducted February to April 2015 and again in October 2015, a panel data-set was constructed. A theoretical framework for voting behaviour that uses party identification, political ideology, ethnic, religious, social class identities and perceptions of the performance of the economy of the respondents to understand what factors help to influence the party preferences of the same respondents 5 months apart. A multivariate (binary logistic regression) analysis of the pre-June and October 2015 data sets revealed that economic voting had been the predominant factor in the June elections, but security concerns also interacted with popular economic evaluations in the November 2015 elections to reinstall the AKP to power.     

The 15 July abortive coup and post-truth politics in Turkey

Contemporary developments throughout the world have been marked by post-truth politics. Epitomized by a disregard for truth coupled with a reliance on emotive arguments, the term ‘post-truth politics’ has not yet been adequately reflected upon by political or social theory. This article uses Turkey’s 15 July (2016) abortive coup as an entry point to address this gap and argues that the post-truth has altered both the grammar and vocabulary of politics. The term denotes the contemporary shift from a ‘regime of truth’ to a ‘regime of common sense’, which also operates as the discursive ground of new populisms. While treating three contending narratives of 15 July – ‘kamikaze coup’, ‘staged coup’ and ‘controlled coup’ – this article focuses on the post-truth elements in the government’s narrative performance that obstructed the pursuit of truth and set the conditions for a particular interpretation of the events of 15 July.     

B: Reviews and notes: bibliographies and works of reference

WORLD SURVEY OF ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS, Volumes III and IV. General editor: Geoffrey Roper. London, Al‐Furqaan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1994. 716 pp. and 489 pp.

MANUSCRIPTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST: A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF HANDWRITTEN MATERIALS OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND RELATED SUBJECTS, Volume 6 (1992). Edited by François Déroche, Adam Gacek and Jan Just Witkam. Leiden, Ter Lugt Press, 1994. 164 pp. illustrations, facsimiles.

A DICTIONARY OF THE ARABIC MATERIAL OF S. D. GOITEIN'S A MEDITERRANEAN SOCIETY. By Werner Diem and Hans‐Peter Radenberg. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1994. xvi, 241 pp.

GUIDE TO SCHOLARS OF THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF CENTRAL ASIA. Compiled by John S. Schoeberlein‐engel. (Research Publications of the Harvard Central Asia Forum, 1.) Cambridge (USA), Harvard Central Asia Forum, sponsored by Center for Middle Eastern Studies & Russian Research Center, Harvard University, 1995. 313 pp. $15.

OMAN. Compiled by Frank A. Clements. (World Bibliographical Series, Volume 29, revised edition.) Oxford, Clio Press, 1994. xxii, 346 pp. Map. £52.     

B: Reviews: general

MIDDLE EAST STUDIES IN DENMARK. Edited by LARS ERSLEV ANDERSEN. Odense, Odense University Press, 1994. 215pp. DKK 200.

APPROACHES TO THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST: INTERVIEWS WITH LEADING MIDDLE EAST HISTORIANS. By NANCY ELIZABETH GALLAGHER. Reading, Garnet Publishing, 1994. viii, 197pp.

A HISTORY OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST. By WILLIAM L. CLEVELAND. Boulder and Oxford, Westview Press, 1994. 503pp. Tables, maps, photographs, glossary, select bibliography.

MUHAMMAD AND THE ORIGINS OF ISLAM. By F.E. PETERS. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1994. 334pp.

A READER ON CLASSICAL ISLAM. By F.E. PETERS. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1994. 420pp.

BEFORE REVELATION: THE BOUNDARIES OF MUSLIM MORAL THOUGHT. By A. KEVIN REINHART. (SUNY Series in Middle Eastern Studies.) Albany, State University of New York Press, 1995. 255pp.

THE DIVINE GUIDE IN EARLY SH'ISM: THE SOURCES OF ESOTERICISM. By MOHAMMAD ALI AMIR‐MOEZZI. Translated by DAVID STREIGHT. Albany, SUNY Press, 1994. 279pp.

IMAGINAL WORLDS: IBN AL‐'ARABI AND THE PROBLEM OF RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. By WILLIAM C. CHITTICK. Albany, SUNY Press, 1994. vii, 208pp. $18.95 (pb.).

RETHINKING ISLAM: COMMON QUESTION, UNCOMMON ANSWERS. By MOHAMMED ARKOUN. Translated and edited by ROBERT D. LEE. Oxford, Westview Press, 1994. 139pp.

A YOUNG MUSLIM'S GUIDE TO THE MODERN WORLD. By SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR. Cambridge, Islamic Texts Society, 1993. 270pp.

PIOUS PASSENGERS. THE HAJJ IN EARLIER TIMES. By M.N. PEARSON. London, Hurst, 1994. viii, 217 pp. Illustrated.

PILGRIMS AND SULTANS: THE HAJJ UNDER THE OTTOMANS. By SURAIYA FAROQHI. London, I.B. Tauris, 1994. xii, 244pp. 1 map.

DEMOCRACY WITHOUT DEMOCRATS? THE RENEWAL OF POLITICS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD. Edited by GHASSAN SALAMÉ. London and New York, I. B. Taurus, 1994. 340pp., figures and tables. £45.

THE PROPHET'S PULPIT: ISLAMIC PREACHING IN CONTEMPORARY EGYPT. By PATRICK D. GAFFNEY. University of California Press, 1994. 367pp. Map, bibliographic references and index.

THE WOMEN'S AWAKENING IN EGYPT: CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND THE PRESS. By BETH BARON. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1994. 259pp. £20.

THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, URB ANA‐CHAMPAIGN

LE DESERT ET LA GLOIRE: LES MEMOIRES D'UN AGENT SYRIEN DE NAPOLEON. By FATHALLAH SAYIGH. Translated and edited by JOSEPH CHELHOD. Paris, Gallimard, 1991. 304pp.

AMERICAN CONSULS IN THE HOLY LAND: 1832–1914. By RUTH KARK. Jerusalem, Magnes Press & Hebrew University; Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1994. 388pp. 28 plates.

PALESTINE IN TRANSFORMATION, 1856–1882: STUDIES IN SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. By ALEXANDER SCHÖLCH. Translated by WILLIAM C. YOUNG and MICHAEL C. GERRITY. Washington, D.C., Institute for Palestine Studies, 1993. xii, 351pp. 8 maps, 44 tables. $29.95.

AN OCCASION FOR WAR: CIVIL CONFLICT IN LEBANON AND DAMASCUS IN 1860. By LEILA TARAZI FAWAZ. London, Centre for Lebanese Studies and I.B. Tauris, 1994. 302pp.

THE ROOTS OF SEPARATISM IN PALESTINE: BRITISH ECONOMIC POLICY 1920–1929. By BARBARA J. SMITH. London, I.B. Tauris, 1993. 258pp. £39.50.

SYRIA'S QUEST FOR INDEPENDENCE, 1939–1945. By SALMA MARDAM BEY. Reading, Ithaca Press, 1994. 288pp.

STAAT UND GESELLSCHAFT IN SYRIEN, 1970–1989. By VOLKER PERTHES. (Schriften des Deutschen Orient‐Institut.) Hamburg, Deutsches Orient‐Institut, 1990. 340pp. DM 39.‐

ÖFFENTLICHE UND PRIVATE LANDWIRTSCHAFT IN SYRIEN. EINE WIRTSCHAFTS‐ UND SOZIALGEOGRAPHISCHE UNTERSUCHUNG IM NORDWESTEN UND NORDOSTEN DES LANDES. By HANS HOPFINGER. (Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 19.). Erlangen, Frankische Geographische Gesellschaft, 1991. 348pp, 24 illustrations, 77 tables, 13 photographs, 5 coloured maps.

LA GUERRE DU LIBAN: DE LA DISSENSION NATIONALE AU CONFLIT REGIONAL, 1975–1982. By SAMIR KASSIR. Paris, Karthala, 1994. 510pp.

A HISTORY OF THE DRUZES. By KAIS M. FIRRO. (Handbuch der Orientalistik, Ergänszungsband 9.) Leiden, Brill, 1992. 396pp. 9 maps.

VILLAGE, STEPPE AND STATE: THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF MODERN JORDAN. Edited by EUGENE L. ROGAN and TARIQ TELL. London and New York, British Academic Press, 1994. xxviii, 226pp.

JORDAN'S INTER‐ARAB RELATIONS: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ALLIANCE MAKING. By LAURIE A. BRAND. New York, Columbia University Press, 1995. x, 350pp.

THE PALESTINIANS IN ISRAEL: IS ISRAEL THE STATE OF ALL ITS CITIZENS AND ‘ABSENTEES'? Translated and edited by NUR MASALHA. Haifa, Galilee Center for Social Research, 1993. $12 (pb).

FASTING AND FEASTING IN MOROCCO: WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN RAMADAN. By MARJO BUITELAAR. (Mediterranea Series.) Oxford and Providence, Berg Publishers, 1993. 203pp. 9 photographs, 15 illustrations, glossary.

IMPERIAL IDENTITIES: STEREOTYPING, PREJUDICE AND RACE IN COLONIAL ALGERIA. By PATRICIA M. LORCIN. (Society and Culture in the Modern Middle East.) London, I.B. Tauris, 1995. x, 323pp. 1 map.

THE MAKING OF SAUDI ARABIA 1916–1936: FROM CHIEFTAINCY TO MONARCHICAL STATE. By JOSEPH KOSTINER. (Studies in Middle Eastern History.) New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1993. xii, 260pp. Maps. £35.00

OIL, POWER AND PRINCIPLE: IRAN'S OIL NATIONALIZATION AND ITS AFTERMATH. By MOSTAFA ELM. New York, Syracuse University Press, 1994. xvii, 413pp. Map, tables (pb).

AN OTTOMAN STATESMAN IN WAR & PEACE: AHMED RESMI EFENDI, 1700–1783. By VIRGINIA H. AKSAN. (The Ottoman Empire & its Heritage, 3.) Leiden, Brill, 1995. xviii, 253pp. Illustration, maps, glossary of place names, terms and phrases, bibliography, index.

TURKEY: A MODERN HISTORY. By ERIK J. ZÜRCHER. London, I.B. Tauris, 1993. 381pp., maps, biographical notes.

THE SEED AND THE SOIL: GENDER AND COSMOLOGY IN TURKISH VILLAGE SOCIETY. By CAROL DELANEY. (Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies, 11.) Berkeley, University of California Press, 1991. xiii, 360pp. Illustrations. Photographs. Index.

INDIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST. By PRITHVI RAM MUDIAM. London, British Academic Press, 1994. ix, 232pp. £39.50.

ARAB WOMEN. Edited by JUDITH E. TUCKER. (Indiana Series in Arab and Islamic Studies.) Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1993. 256pp., index.

WOMEN, ISLAM AND THE STATE. By DENIZ KANDIYOTI. London, Macmillan, 1991. 271 pp., index.

VISITING ARAB COUNTRIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST: A PERSONAL GUIDE FOR WOMEN. By PENELOPE TURING. Glasgow, Centre for Management Training and Development in the Middle East, n.d. [1994]. 26pp.

MEDIEVAL AGRICULTURE AND ISLAMIC SCIENCE: THE ALMANAC OF A YEMENI SULTAN. By DANIEL MARTIN VARISCO. (Publications on the Near East, No. 6.) Seattle & London, University of Washington Press, 1994. xv, 349pp. 2 maps.

REORIENTATIONS: ARABIC AND PERSIAN POETRY. Edited by SUZANNE PINCKNEY STETKEVYCH. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1994. x, 269pp. £25.

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS: A COMPANION. By ROBERT IRWIN. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press. 1994. 344pp. £20.

NAGIB MAHFOUZ: THE PURSUIT OF MEANING. By RASHEED EL‐ENANY. London and New York, Routledge, 1993. xv, 271pp. £12.99 (pb).

ARAB COMIC STRIPS: POLITICS OF AN EMERGING MASS CULTURE. By ALLEN DOUGLAS and FEDWA MALTI‐DOUGLAS. Bloomington & Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1994. xiii, 263pp.

ISLAMIC SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. By DONALD R. HILL. (Islamic Surveys.) Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1994. 250pp. 78 illustrations. £16.95 (pb), £39.95 (hb).

CAUGHT IN TIME: GREAT PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES. KHIVA. BUKHARA. SAMARKAND. Series editor: VITALY NAUMKIN. Reading, Garnet Publishing, 1993. 127pp. (Khiva); 159pp. (Bukhara); 159pp. (Samarkand).

THE CORAL BUILDINGS OF SUAKIN: ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING, DESIGN AND DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS IN A RED SEA PORT. By J.‐P. GREENLAW. London and New York, Kegan Paul International, 1995.132pp.     

The legal notion of nationality in the Turkish Republic: from Ottoman legacy to modern aberrations

Shortly after its emergence, the Turkish Republic adopted legislation inspired by European legal systems and traditions, including a law on nationality. The implementation of this law was affected by the staunchly nationalistic early republican policies which were not immune from the influence of the concept of ‘race’, as well as by the Ottoman legal conceptions on nationality based on religion, both of which guided the application of the new laws by the judiciary and the administration. This article proposes a critical legal approach to the issue of Turkish nationality, based on historical reflections. After a survey on the laws on nationality since the foundation of the Republic, it addresses the major confusions in connection with the concept of nationality in the light of textbooks from the relevant period, in order to observe, in conclusion, inherent and insolvable inconsistencies within the law, and a tenacious survival of Ottoman conceptions within the current law on nationality, especially with regard to religious minorities, which are assimilated to dhimmis in the legal subconscious and often equated to foreigners in practice.     

Civic Participation and Citizenship in Turkey: A Comparative Study of Five Cities

This study explores whether and how participation in civil society organisations (CSOs) has transformed citizenship attitudes in different cities in Turkey, and how civic participation and citizenship attitudes are affected by local politico-cultural dynamics. The analysis is based on interviews conducted with representatives of 36 CSOs in five Turkish cities: Konya, Edirne, Diyarbakir, Trabzon, and Izmir. Our comparative analysis of the five cities reveals that civic life is more active in cities marked by high levels of religiosity (Konya) and politicised by conflict (Diyarbakir). On the other hand, politicisation of civic life through party dominance and clientelism, as in Edirne and Trabzon, undermines trust and discourages participation.     

Taking Sides: Determinants of Support for a Presidential System in Turkey*

A key issue on the Turkish political agenda concerns a transition to presidentialism, with a constitutional amendment proposal submitted in December 2016. While the positions of political elites are well known, we lack a detailed analysis of the electorate’s views on such a transition. To fill this gap, we present cross-sectional and panel data collected over the period from spring 2015 to winter 2015–16. Partisanship emerges as the key factor shaping views on presidentialism, and reflections of the centre–periphery cleavage in Turkish politics are also visible. The shift of the Turkish nationalist constituency’s views in favour of presidentialism has been a significant trend in the aftermath of the June 2015 general election.