Secular State and Religious Society

On the basis of original, empirically rich, and theoretically sound social research, the chapters in this volume reveal and analyze the complex relations between the secular government of Turkey and the religious persons and society within the Turkish state.

"How do we account for the relationship between the secular state and pious society? Rather than viewing the two as mutually exclusive, the studies in this volume, built on the Turkish experience, skillfully illustrate how a secular state can engage and accommodate the exigencies of a religious society. The lesson may be highly instructive to the emerging democracies in the Middle East today.'

Asef Bayat, professor of Sociology and Middle East Studies, University of Illinois

Autorentext
BERNA TURAM Associate Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Northeastern University, USA.

Inhalt
Introduction: Secular State and Pious Muslims: Neither Rivals nor Allies for Life; B.Turam The Dynamic Nature of Educational Policies and Turkish Nation-Building: Where Does Religion Fit In?; Y.Bayar Islam, Nation-State, and the Military: A Discussion of Secularism in Turkey; S.Gurbey Secularists as the Saviors of Islam: Rearticulation of Secularism and the Freedom of Conscience in Turkey (1950); U.Azak Does Secularism Face a Serious Threat in Turkey?; M.Heper Christian and Turkish: Secularist Fears of a Converted Nation; E.Ozyurek Market Oriented Post-Islamism in Turkey; T.Keskin Conflict, Democratic Reform and Big Business: Factors Shaping the Economic Elite's Position for Change; D.Yavuz Toward Conceptual Integration of Religious Actors in Democracy and Civil Society; A.Rubin Afterword; M.G.Tezcur