The Jarring Road to Democratic Inclusion

A Comparative Assessment of StateSociety Engagements in Israel and Turkey

Contributions by Canan Aslan Akman, Gözde Erdeniz, Louis Fishman, Niva Golan-Nadir, Inna Michaeli, Aviad Rubin, Yusuf Sarfati, Sultan Tepe Edited by Aviad Rubin, Yusuf Sarfati

Not available to order

Publication date:

30 August 2016

Length of book:

264 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498525084

This edited volume brings together chapters that offer theoretically pertinent comparisons between various dimensions of Israeli and Turkish politics. Each chapter covers a different aspect of state–society interactions in both countries from a comparative perspective, including the public role of religion, political culture, women rights movements, religious education, religious movements, marriage regulation, labor market inclusion, and ethnic minorities. Israel and Turkey share significant similarities, such as state formation under nationalist ideologies, familiarity with democratic governance since the 1940s, strong affiliation with the West, recent resurgence of religious parties, ongoing conflict with ethno-national minority groups that challenge the dominant national project, contemporary popular protests against the incumbent regime, and recent serious erosion of democratic rights. At the same time they differ on major variables, such as size, majority religion, geopolitical location, level of economic development, policy towards ethnic minorities, and institutional arrangements to managing the state–religion relations. The presence of these differences in face of common backgrounds facilitates analytically grounded comparisons in a host of dimensions. Therefore, employing a case-oriented comparative method, this book provides historically interpretative and causally analytic accounts on the politics of both societies. The contributions reveal the dynamic and complex—rather than one-dimensional and linear—nature of political processes in both settings. This empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated volume should contribute to a better understanding of these two important states, and, no less important, stimulate new directions for comparative research, especially on Middle East regimes, social movements, and democratization.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Israel and Turkey in Comparative Perspective, Yusuf Sarfati and Aviad Rubin
Chapter 2. Contesting the Religious in a (Secular) Democracy: A Comparative Assessment of the Theoretical, Judicial, and Political Approaches to the Public Role of Religion, Sultan Tepe
Chapter 3. Political Mobilization through Religious Schooling: A Comparison of Ma’ayan schools in Israel and Imam Hatip Schools in Turkey, Yusuf Sarfati
Chapter 4. Challenges to the Religious-Political Establishment: The Cases of Anticapitalist Muslims in Turkey and Women of the Wall in Israel, Gözde Erdeniz
Chapter 5. Comparative Trajectories of the Women’s Movement in Israel and Turkey: Transforming Policy and Agendas in Divided Societies, Canan Aslan Akman
Chapter 6. Dominant vs. Hegemonic Tendencies as Critical Features in Israel’s and Turkey’s Political Cultures, Aviad Rubin
Chapter 7. Elections 2015: Israel and Turkey—the Joint List and the HDP, Louis Fishman
Chapter 8. Marriage Regulation in Israel and Turkey: The Interplay between Institutional Dynamics and Public Preferences, Niva Golan-Nadir
Chapter 9. On the Margins of Social Citizenship: Turkish Women in Germany and Palestinian Women in Israel, Inna Michaeli

This is a unique collection of essays on political comparative analysis of Israel and Turkey, both represent non-western and non-liberal models of democracy. The editors have brought together interdisciplinary and transatlantic group of experts focusing on the timely discussions of democratic inclusion, conflicts of political identity, and critical social movements. The contributions reveal the contemporary democratic shortcomings and challenges facing both countries. It is a must read for scholars who are interested in comparative politics and state-society relations in the Middle East.