Islamic Political Party Formation in Morocco, Turkey and Jordan A
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Between Movement and Party: Islamic Political Party Formation in Morocco, Turkey and Jordan A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Esen Kirdi! IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY David Samuels Kathleen Collins July 2011 © Esen Kirdi! 2011 Acknowledgements I could have not written this dissertation without the intellectual, material and moral support of many people. I am indebted to all of them. In what follows, I will attempt the impossible task of acknowledging them all in a limited space such as this. As a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, I had the great opportunity to be a part of an intellectual community composed of a number of remarkable scholars and colleagues. I feel especially privileged and honored to have the chance to work closely with, and be mentored by, two wonderful advisors, David Samuels and Kathleen Collins. David Samuels’ Political Parties and Party Systems seminar played a central role in the framing of this project. It was in this seminar, I started researching about Islamic political parties. If David had not encouraged me to take the project further, this project would have remained as a seminar paper. I also thank David for his generosity with his time in commenting on multiple drafts of each chapter of this dissertation, his quick draft turnovers and patient replies to all my questions. David’s thoughtful comments and incisive criticisms urged me to see the bigger picture, and in doing so, helped me to express my thoughts more clearly. I cannot thank him enough for his unswerving intellectual engagement with my work. I am also indebted to Kathleen Collins for reading and commenting on multiple drafts of my dissertation. It was in Kathleen’s Identity Politics in the Islamic World seminar in which my interest in Islamic movements started. I thank Kathleen for encouraging this project to find its unique identity. She was always ready to read and listen. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of her encouragement and advise for ! "! conducting fieldwork. The value of her critical reading and intellectual support in this project cannot be quantified. I cannot express enough how grateful I am to Kathleen for all her generosity and support. I owe a special thanks to Abdi Samatar, who has given me full-support and encouragement throughout the years. His sincere guidance in dealing with every aspect of the academia has been priceless. It was a great pleasure and chance for me to work with him. Michael Barnett joined the committee later than other members. I thank him not only for his willingness to be a part of this committee in such short notice but also for his questions that made me look at my dissertation from a different perspective. In addition to my committee, I had the support of several outstanding faculty members, within and outside the University of Minnesota. I thank Kathryn Sikkink for her generosity with her time and her support in all stages of my graduate studies. I cannot thank Kathryn enough for her critical engagements with earlier versions of this project and her mentorship throughout the years. I learned a great deal from watching Martin Sampson teach gracefully, and am very thankful for all his understanding and support. I also thank Lisa Hilbink and Yitzhak Reiter for all their support, encouragement, and generosity. I was fortunate to have worked with the most understanding and supportive Department Chair and Directors of Graduate Studies, Joanne Miller, Bud Duvall and Dan Kelliher and am thankful for all their support throughout the years. Dealing with bureaucracies is inescapable while writing a dissertation. However, Judith Mitchell and Elizabeth Ethier from the University of Minnesota Political Science ! ""! Department with their patience and humor have made bureaucracies reachable for me, and I would like to thank them for this. Special thanks must also go to my undergraduate advisor, Ziya Öni!, at Koç University. I was fortunate to receive mentorship and support from Ziya Öni! from whom I have learned the fundamentals of Political Science upon which my PhD studies rests, and would like to thank him for all his support and guidance. My fieldwork would have not been possible without the help of many people. Hence, I am indebted to all the people who have helped me in finding contacts and/or who have taken the time to give me an interview. I was particularly lucky to receive guidance and accommodation from two institutes during my fieldwork: the American Center for Oriental Research in Jordan (ACOR) and the Dutch Institute in Morocco (NIMAR). I am very thankful to them. I also thank all the scholars whose work I have used for this dissertation. Without their work, this dissertation could have not been written. I owe a big gratitude to many agencies for their financial support to my studies. I could have not gone through my undergraduate studies without the Koç University Merit Scholarship and through my graduate studies without the University of Minnesota Political Science Department Teaching Assistantship that covered all my tuition and living expenses. I could not emphasize the importance of both scholarships in my academic progress. My fieldwork would have not been possible without the generous help of Catherine Guisan and Steve Dickinson and the Andrew Dickinson Fellowship. I also am thankful to the Graduate School at the University of Minnesota and its Doctoral ! """! Dissertation Fellowship that enabled me to concentrate on my dissertation writing in my last year of PhD. The moral support of many friends has played a central role in the writing of this dissertation. I was very fortunate to be surrounded by a group of friends in Minneapolis who all have made the routine graduate life enjoyable. Hereby, I thank Darrah McCracken, Jen Gagnon, Logan Dancey, Anthony Pahnke, Menaka Philips, Bai Linh Hoang, Libby Sharrow, Laura Thaut, Jonas Bunte, Geoff Dancy, David Forrest, Denis Kennedy, Moira Lynch, Veronica Michel, Adriano Udani, Ismail Yaylacı, Ayten Gündo!du, Aslı Çalkıvık, and Seda Tepe. I also thank my Arabic class, Jackie Burns, Mark Hoffman, Evan Jones, Melanie Burns and Mohammed Elmeski, who all made waking up bright and early every morning for three years something to look forward to. I was also lucky to have a “safety net” in Minneapolis. Spending hours in a row in front of a laptop would have been a solitary process if not for Giovanni Mantilla. Giovanni is my confidant who has kept me sane throughout the years. He has also been a caring friend who never got tired of listening to me. Hence, I owe a heartfelt thank you to Giovanni. I also wish Azer Binnet had started graduate school earlier, so I would have met her earlier. I thank her for being my “partner in crime” who gets what is on my mind with a single look. Neither can I imagine Uptown, the office, or the last six years without Erica Owen, and am very thankful for her friendship. I also thank Çi!dem Çıdam for all her friendship and patience with my questions and me. And, I thank Marcela Villarrazo because I barely remember anything else from my first year of graduate school except all the never-ending things-to-do lists and her true friendship. ! "#! I could have not written this dissertation and keep myself grounded in reality without the moral support of my friends and family. I was a single child until the year 2000. Then, I met Gülçe Cin, Gülis Zengin and Özlem Demirta!. I thank them for growing up and discovering the world together. I owe a special thanks to Sonya Özbey because only she understood what it means to be a stranger in a foreign country as well as to be a citizen of a strange country. Hearing her voice everyday over the phone made homesickness bearable. I owe a big thank you to my big family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who made home always feel home…and, most of the time like a sit-com home. I am not sure where I should start with my thank you to my amazing parents, Nesrin and Halis Kirdi!. They have always been and are my rocks. The single reason how I managed to stand firmly on my feet is the knowledge that I always have a place to return to if things go undesired directions. I consider myself fortunate and proud that I had the privilege of being born as their daughter. It is to them that I dedicate this dissertation. ! "! Dedication Annem ve Babam, Nesrin ve Halis Kirdi!, icin vi Abstract The main question I explore in my dissertation is, “Why are some Islamic movements forming political parties while others are staying as movements?” Although many observers assume that Islamist movements tend to be radical, numerous movements across the Muslim world have deliberately chosen to attempt to work within the existing political system by formally becoming political parties. Cases of such transformation have occurred in democracies (e.g. Indonesia) and in authoritarian regimes (e.g. Yemen), and in countries using Islamic law (e.g. Jordan) as well as in those with secular legal systems (e.g. Turkey). Hence, it cannot be explained as a function of political liberalization. My findings also challenge the argument that a rising Muslim middle class is driving the creation of new Islamic political parties (IPPs): sometimes IPPs form in the absence of a middle class, and sometimes they do not form even despite considerable middle-class pressure. Thus, IPP formation presents a widespread and important yet unexplored political puzzle in the Muslim world vis-à-vis the question of Muslim democracy—a discussion my dissertation takes head-on.