THE RISE OF RELIGIOUS PARTIES IN ISRAEL AND TURKEY A COMPARATIVE STUDY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School at The Ohio State University by Yusuf Sarfati, MA ***** The Ohio State University 2009 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor R. William Liddle, Adviser Professor Carter V. Findley Professor Goldie Shabad ___________________________ Adviser Political Science Graduate Program Copyright by Yusuf Sarfati 2009 ABSTRACT In the past three decades, religiopolitical actors have asserted themselves as significant political forces in a variety of countries around the world. This dissertation examines the question of why the electoral strength of religious parties increases in democratic societies. In order to answer this question, I use a “most different” case design and compare the rise of the Shas party in Israel and the National Outlook parties in Turkey in the 1990s. The findings suggest that the interaction of three variables accounts for the rise of the religious parties in both countries. This dissertation argues that the existence of a historical sociocultural cleavage, the recent politicization of this cleavage as a result of social change, and the secular states’ co- optation of religion have led to the strengthening of the religiopolitical parties in both countries. Using interviews with party activists, government officials, and other societal actors, the study delineates a causal narrative that links these explanatory variables to the dependent variable. I discuss how Shas and the National Outlook Movement emerged in the context of a politicized sociocultural divide and how these two movements addressed the grievances of the socioculturally marginalized segments of their society by using religion as a meta-narrative in their ideology and in their ii communication with their constituents. Then, I illustrate how the secular states’ co- optation of religion (in the form of including religious actors in the government and increasing state funding for religious education) has unintentionally contributed to the success of the religiopolitical actors by enabling them to have access to the material and cultural resources of the state. This dissertation contributes to several theoretical debates in the social sciences. In the literature on political religion, which has focused on the role of economic, political, and cultural variables, the role of the secular state is understudied. Even scholars who have focused on state policies have not systematically established a causal link between secular state strategies and the growth of religious movements. By systematically illustrating how state strategies of co-optation lead to religiopolitical mobilization, this dissertation aims to expand the boundaries of the literature. By specifying an exact context under which modernization leads to the emergence of religiopolitical actors, the study also contributes to the secularization debate, which lacks any contextualization of the modernization-secularization relationship. Additionally, the dissertation speaks to the theoretical debate in the comparative politics literature about the role of institutions vs. ideas in shaping political outcomes. Through its analysis of ethnoreligious discourses formed around state-funded religious schools, this dissertation reveals how ideas and institutions interact in affecting political change. Finally, through its comparative analysis of religious politics in Israel and Turkey, the dissertation provides insights regarding various arguments made in the literature on democracy and religion. iii Dedicated to my Mom and Dad Ida and Ruben Sarfati iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people to whom I am indebted for supporting me as I was completing my dissertation journey. First of all, I would like to individually thank to my committee members. My advisor Professor William R. Liddle has been very supportive throughout the entire dissertation project. He provided me intellectual support and encouragement at every step of the dissertation. Moreover my relationship with him as his advisee and his student taught me a lot on how to be a good and humane college professor. I would like to thank Professor Carter V. Findley for generating curiousity in the study of the Middle East. I learned a wealth of information in the graduate classes I took with him. His feedback and contributions to the chapters on Turkey were invaluable. I would also like to thank Professor Goldie Shabad for showing genuine interest in my work and joining my dissertation committee later on, when I needed her. She has provided timely feedback, and insightful suggestions for all my chapters. There are other people who I would like to acknowledge for their intellectual support. I would like to thank Professor Marcus Kurtz, who was engaged in the early stages of the dissertation project and who helped me greatly with the research design and case selection processes. I am also very grateful to Konstantin Vossing and A. Kadir Yıldırım for reading previous drafts of this, and related projects, and for providing valuable input. My fieldwork in Israel and Turkey would not have been possible without the support of several grants that I was awarded at the Ohio State University. These included the AGGRS grant from Ohio State’s Graduate School, the Office of International Affair’s dissertation travel grant, and the Aumann Dissertation Writing Fellowship provided by the Political Science department at the Ohio State University. v I am also highly indebted to the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity for providing me with a research Associate position during my last two years in Columbus. During my work at Kirwan, I developed an intellectual curiosity on the emergence and maintenance of cultural hierarchies and used some of these concepts in this dissertation. Specifically, I would like to thank to Dr. Andrew Grant Thomas and Cheryl Staats for being great partners in various research projects.. It was a true joy to work with them. I received support from various individuals during my field work in Israel. I thank to Dr. Elizer Don-Yehiya, Dr. Nissim Leon, Dr. Ricki Tessler, Dr. Menachem Friedman, and Dr. Asher Susser for finding time in their busy schedules to discuss my project with me and making valuable suggestions. Also, I would like to extend my thanks to the staff of the Citizen’s Empowerment Center at the Tel Aviv University for providing me an office space and giving me leads for the field research process. During my six months long field work in Israel, the Halif family (Doli, Itsik, Lital, and Shay) generously accepted me to their home and made me feel at home. They also provided me key help for finding my way around the country. I truly appreciate their warm hospitality. In Turkey, I thank Dr. Binnaz Toprak for finding time to discuss my project. I also appreciate the help of Bensiyon Pinto, Cemal Uşak, and Yasin Meral for providing me valuable access to my interviewees. I am grateful to all of my interviewees in both countries for sharing with me their insights and stories. Without their invaluable input, this dissertation could not have been materialized. I have spent eight years in Columbus to finish my graduate studies and to write the dissertation. In this period of eight years, which I spent away from my family, I was lucky to be surrounded by many friends. Without the friendship and camaraderie of these people my journey in Columbus would not be as joyful as it was. They include: Serkan Özbeklik, Hiram José Irizarry Osorio, Aqdas Afzal, Ufuk Ulutaş, Serdar Poyraz, Rajeev Ravisankar, Konstantin Vossing, Elsadig Elsheikh, Faye Dsilva, Tufan Ekici, Ranjan Shrestha, Allessia Colarossi, Mustafa Öktem, Deniz Yücel, Agus Munoz-Garcia, Yosi Bahar, Dino Christensen, Srdjan Vucetic, Dag vi Mossige, Johannes Sulaiman, Dinna Wisnu, Dinnisa Duvanova, Kuskridho Ambardi, Daniel Blake, and Sinan Hastorun. I would like to thank my family who showed their continuous support and faith in me. I am lucky to have parents who put the education of their children over everything else. My parents, Ruben and Ida Sarfati, showed their continuous support throughout my graduate studies. Even at times I felt frustrated with my studies they indicated how much they believed in me. If this work can make them proud, I would feel happy. My grandparents Janet and Rıfat Pinhas were also always by my side whenever I needed them. I am also grateful to my sister Selin Sarfati. I thank her for encouragement, conversations, and for spending time as siblings. Last, but not least, I thank to my partner Lisya Seloni. She shared my ups and downs throughout my entire graduate studies. I cannot emphasize enough how lucky I was to have her by my side during this arduous journey. Her enthusiasm, patience, grace, and endless energy helped me to keep my spirits up. I am very grateful to her for helping me to overcome my disappointments and bringing joy to my life in Columbus. vii VITA November 08, 1977.................................Born – Istanbul, Turkey 2001.........................................................B.A. International relations and political science, Boğaziçi University, Turkey 2004.........................................................M.A. Political science, The Ohio Sate University 2001-2004................................................Graduate Teaching and Research Associate, The Ohio State University 2004-2006...............................................