Turkey's Engagement with Modernity: Conflict and Change in the Twentieth Century

Turkey is at the very centre of intellectual and political debates of global significance. Questions about the future of secularism, the relationship between Islam and democracy and the future of the Middle East and Europe all touch upon Turkey. All these debates can benefit greatly from a substantive examination of the political institutions of the Turkish Republic and the historical evolution of its society and culture in the twentieth century.

Turkey's Engagement with Modernity brings together 24 leading scholars, who revisit Turkey's formative 'modern century'.The essays range from investigations into high politics and international relations to explorations of the intricate webs of social and religious networks, micro-histories, literature and music. Together they chart the achievements of modernisation, the crises created by ethno-nationalism, and the instances of resistance and opposition which the Turkish Republic engendered.

The book explores how the country was shaped in the image of Kemalist modernity at the beginning of the twentieth century and how it was transformed, at the beginning of the twenty-first, into an arguably more democratic society, where tensions between religion, state and society continue unabated.