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Islamic Political Identity in Turkey, by M. Hakan Yavuz. Oxford, UK and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. xiv + 274 pages. Appendix to 276. Notes to 316. Bibl. to p. 324. Index to 328. $49.95.
Islamic Political Identity in Turkey is about the emergence of political Islam in Turkey, and the historical developments that shaped the forms that this political Islam has taken. The purpose of Yavuz's study "is to examine both the social and political processes and consequences of the formation of a new Islamic political identity in Turkey" (p. 6). Yavuz argues that the revival of social and political Islam in Turkey is not due to the failure of Kemalism, the ideology of Mustafa Kemal Atatiirk, but is the outcome of what he calls "opportunity spaces" that have opened up following the neoliberal policies of Turgut Özal (i.e., since 1983). Opportunity spaces, he explains, are "social and economic networks and vehicles for activism and the dissemination of meaning, identity, and cultural codes" (p. ix). They provide forums for social interaction, and chances to increase networks of shared meaning and associational life. These include civic and political forums, electronic and print media, Cyberspace, and the market. Yavuz's notion of opportunity space is one in which social actors can act upon their world to change it. It is a space of choice and resistance to the state, and a useful way to reveal the meeting points of micro and macro forces.
Opportunity spaces are, above all, networks of communication provided by mass media and other public forums available since the 1950s, when the multi -party regime in Turkey allowed more room for the public expression of Islam. According to Yavuz, these opportunity spaces, particularly since 1983, have resulted in the emergence of a "new prototype of ulema/intellectual...along with a set of network-communities to restructure this...