Third World Quarterly ISSN: 0143-6597 (Print) 1360-2241 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ctwq20 The political economy of Islamic resurgence in Turkey: The rise of the Welfare Party in perspective Ziya Onis To cite this article: Ziya Onis (1997) The political economy of Islamic resurgence in Turkey: The rise of the Welfare Party in perspective, Third World Quarterly, 18:4, 743-766, DOI: 10.1080/01436599714740 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01436599714740 Published online: 25 Aug 2010. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 1047 View related articles Citing articles: 61 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ctwq20 Download by: [SOAS, University of London] Date: 06 March 2017, At: 22:18 ThirdW orldQu arterly,V ol18,No4,pp743±766,1997 ThepoliticaleconomyofIslamic resurgence inTurkey:therise ofthe WelfareParty in perspective ZIÇ YA OÈ NISË Therisingelectoralfortu neso ftheWelfareP arty(Refah P artisi( RP)), a party thatd ifferentiatesitselfsh arplyfro mthe`orthodox’p artieso ftherightorlefto f thepoliticalspectrumbycam paigningex plicitlyonanIslam istp latform, constitutesth emosto bviousorv isiblesig nofIslamicresurg encein th eTurkish 1 context. Theturning-pointinth eevolutionof RP intoa majorpoliticalmove- mentcamewiththe m unicipalg overnmentelecti onsofMarch1 994during whichth epartym anagedto cap tureth emayorshipsofthetwokeym etropolitan areaso fIstanbulandA nkara.T hisvicto ryd ramaticallyaltere dtheprevious imageofth epartyin th epublicm ind,namelyas a marginalan dparochial politicalforce ontheextremerightwitha strongregionalo rientation. RP’ s rise toth estatusofanationwidep oliticalmovement,as o pposedto a partyco n®ned mainlyto its in ner Anatolianro ots,w ascon solidatedfu rther bythegeneral electionsofDecember 1995.TheWelfareParty m anagedto in creaseits sh are of thenationalvo tefro m7.2%in1 987to 2 1.4%in1 995andit em ergedas th e leadingpoliticalp artyin the cou ntry,alth oughits sh are ofthe v otew asn ot suf® cientto g rantita mandateto fo rm agovernmentonano utrightbasis. Followingaserieso funsuccessfulattemptsto form adurableco alitiongovern- mentontheparto ftheestablishedrig htofcentrep arties,the `M otherlandParty’ (ANAP)andth e`TruePathP arty’( DYP)duringtheearlym onthsof1 996,anew coalitiongovernmentwasestab lishedb etween RP and DYP, in which RP emerged asthe d ominantpartner.T hisd evelopmentclearlyconstitutesa landmarkin a countrywh ichis u niqueinth eMuslimw orldin term softh estrengthof its secularisttrad itionsandits ex plicitpro -Westerno rientation.Theemergenceo f RP asa majorp oliticalfo rce undoubtedlyrepres entsa paradoxicalph enomenon forobservers oftheTurkishscen e,a phenomenonwhichm anyinterpretas a fundamentalco nstitutionalch allengetoth esecularfo undationsoftheRepublic, raisingdeepqu estionsconcerningthecompatibilityo fastrongIslamicparty withth eprocesso fconsolidatingliberald emocracy. Before embarkingon an an alysiso fwhy RP hasem ergedas a majorpolitical force sorecen tlyin th econtextofthe1990s,tw oimportantquali®catio nsought tob emadeatth eoutset.T he®rst isth atth epresenceo fanIslam icp olitical partyo ntheelectoralscen einT urkeyis n otanovelp henomenon.Infact, th e originsofthepresentday RP canb etracedb ackto th e`NationalOrd er Party’ Ziya OÈ nisËis atthe Departme ntof E conomics, BogÆazicËiUniversity, 80815 Bebek,Istanbul ,Turkey . 0143-6597/97/040743-24 $7.00 Ó 1997 ThirdW orldQuarterl y 743 ZÇIYA OÈ NISË (MilliN izamP artisi),of® ciallyfo undedin 1 970,bannedd uringthemilitary coupof1971,andsubsequentlyreem ergingunder adifferentname,th e`Na- tionalS alvationParty’(MilliS elametP artisi( MSP)), duringth e1970s.B oth partiesw ere undertheleadershipo fNecmettinE rbakan,w hoseresili enceo nthe Turkishp oliticalsceneisstrik inggiventh ath eisalso th eundisputedleader o f theWelfareP artyat th epresentju ncture. MSP infact m adeitsm arko nTurkish politicsb yparticipatingina number ofcoalitiongovernmentsin th ehighly unstablepo liticalenvironmentofthemidan dlate1 970s.Yet, in co ntrastto th e currentstatu re of RP, MSP wasa smallp artyw ithan essent iallym arginalan d parochialelecto ralb ase. 2 Thesecondquali®catio nthatdeservesemphasisis that,d espiteth eemergence of RP asa nationwidemassp oliticalmovementinrecen tyears,its w eighto r in¯uencein the T urkishsettin gshouldn eitherb eunderestimatedn oroverexag- gerated.Insp iteo fthefactth atth epartyem ergedas the lead ingp artyo nthe basiso fthenationalvo te,its su periorityto o thern ationalp artieso nbothth e rightandleft o fthepoliticalspectrum,andnotablyth eedgethatit h asm anaged toestab lishrelati veto th etwoleadingcontenders ontheright, DYP and ANAP, 3 iso nlym arginal. More signi®can tly, RP’scurrentpo sitionshouldbe p lacedin proper perspectivein the sen seth ataro und80%percentofthepopulationin Turkeyco ntinuesto v otein fav ourofp arties,b othrig htand left, w hichare predominantlysecu larand W esternin th eirb asico rientations. RP hasalongway tog obeforeit is ab leto o btaina majorityv otein p arliamentth atm ayp rovide amandate,in prin ciple,fo rputtingitsco mprehensiveeco nomic,legal, p olitical andculturalp ackageintoactio n.Thisb ringsusto th epointthata major dichotomyisev identinth ecurrentpo sitionof RP inth econtextofdem ocratic politicsin T urkeyto day.Thepartyh asu ndoubtedlyem ergedas a majorsource ofpoliticalpower inrecent y ears.N onetheless,it rep resentsa peripheralfo rce comparedw ithth epositionofthepoliticalpartieso ftheestablishedsecu lar order,in th esenseth atany m ajororradicalattem ptby RP totran sform society alongIslamiclin esw illth reatenth ebasicp rincipleso ftheR epublic’sconsti- tutionalo rder andthusthev eryfo undationsoftheregimeandtheliberal democratico rderwhich,asm anyleadinganalysts,w ouldag ree issomedistance awayfro mbeingfullyco nsolidated. 4 Theco nsequenceso ftheWelfareP arty’selectoralsu ccessan dapotentially strong RP presencefor thefu tureo fthedemocraticreg imeinT urkeyis an issu e thatd eservesserio usinvestigationinits o wnright.T heprimaryfocu sinth e presentcontext,h owever,w illb eontheunderlyingcauseso fthep arty’sriseto power. Thecen tralqu estiontoad dress, consideringthatp oliticalIslam has deep-seatedhistoricalro otsin T urkey,isth eriseo f RP toth estatusofamajor politicalforce speci®cally in th econtexto fthe1990s.A number ofsch olars hassin gledou tthespeci®c domestico riginsoftheprocessan dthosefeatu res thatare uniquetoth eTurkishR epublic,w itha strongfocusontheposition ofthestatein relati ontoth eIslamicm ovement.T hesesch olarsh avehigh- lightedth etensionsbetweenth eauthoritariansecu larismo ftheR epublican eliteat th e`centre’an dthebroadm assesq uiteco ngenialto Islam icp rinciples andvalueson th e`periphery’,andtheattemptsto reso lvethesetensio ns followingthetransitionto multipartyd emocracyin thep ost-1950era. 5 While not 744 ISLAMIC RESURGENCE INTU RKEYIN P ERSPECTIVE negatingtheimportanceo ftheuniquelyhisto ricalfeatur eso ftheTurkishcase, thepresentanalysisd rawsattentionmoreex plicitlytoth eexternald imension, andattemptsto con ceptualisethe rise o fpoliticalIslam inT urkeyd uringthe 1990sasa manifestationorare¯ectio nofthefar-re achingtransformationsthat are occurringatth egloballev elb othin th eeconomicand th eculturalsp here. Particularlysig ni®can tinthis co ntextare thepressures associatedwith th e globalisationofth eworldeco nomyandtheprocessof n eoliberaleco nomic restructuringthatis pro foundlyaffect ingsocietiesinv eryd ifferentpartso fthe world.A tthesametime,w eobservethe p rofoundandyetco ntradictoryim ages transmittedb ytheprocesso fculturalg lobalisationthatalsoex plainswhyparties witha strongreligiousorfundamentalisto rientationp aradoxicallyh aveachance ofelectoralsu ccessin th ecurrenthistoricalco njuncture. Beyondthetraditionalleft-rightdivide: theascendanceof id entityp olitics inth epost-coldw arcontextandIslamicresu rgence Theintensep rocessof g lobalisationin th eeconomican dculturalrealm sis underminingmanyoftheestablishedco ntours ofpoliticalactivityb othin advancedin dustrialisedco untriesan dinthe d evelopingworld.Whatap pearsto beunder challengeisth enation-stateasw ellas th eclassicalo rganisationof politicsw ithinth efamiliarleft v ersusrightnexus.T henation-statean dits securityis threat enedb ythenew internationald ivisionofproductionand 6 labour. Thelogico ftheglobalm arketp lacep aysnoattentiontow here a productis m ade.S imilarly,theinternational® nancialrev olution,aprocess facilitatedb ymajorim provementsin co mmunicationsandinformationtechnol- ogy,bringsitso wnchallengesto th esovereigntyof th enation-state.T he paradoxofourera isth atth enationstateis p rogressivelylo singcontrolo ver economicactiv ityw ithinits o wnn ationalb orders inan in creasinglyb orderless world.T hepressuresare torelo cateau thorityu pwardseith ertosu pranationalo r internationalinstit utionssuchas th eEuropeanUn ionortheWorldT rade Organizationortod elegateau thorityd ownwardstolo calo rmunicipalorg anisa- tions.Y et,at th esametime,th enationstateco ntinuesto b ethedominant politicalunit.F ormostp eopleth enation-stateis still th eprimaryso urce of identity.Thusa paradoxisem erging.P eople’sexpectationsofw hatth estate oughttod eliver isin creasingw hileth estate’s capacityto p rovidethesem uch neededserv icesis rap idlyin declin e.T hisp henomenoncreatesacrisiso f governancean daloss ofau thorityo ntheparto fthestate. T heglobalisation processin th eeconomicsph