The central argument of this article is that the strong state-centred tradition of Turkey has recently gone out of fashion. The breakdown of authoritarianism and state-centred approach and moving into a successful democratic consolidation and society-centred approach in Turkey requires choices to be made and alliances to be formed among intellectual-bureaucratic elite, the military, political parties, trade unions, other interest groups and various types of societal organisations. One of the most important difficulties for consolidating democracy in Turkey has been the complexity of creating stable, viable, accountable, responsive, predictable, representative, transparent, efficient and problem-solving oriented legitimate institutions where all citizens, regardless of ethnic origin or religious orientation, have a voice and enabling representation in such bureaucratic organs that altogether make-up the institution of state. This article will assert that the forces of democratic transition from a state-centred approach to a society-centred approach in Turkey are based on resolving the two main potentially difficult problems that are related with constant questioning of the legitimacy and democratic consolidation of the state apparatus: ethnic and religious paradoxes.
ÇahaÖmer. (2001). The inevitable coexistence of civil society and liberalism: The case of Turkey. Journal of Economic and Social Research, 3(2), 35–50.
5.
ÇarkoğluAliToprakBinnaz. (2006). Değişen Türkiye’de Din, Siyaset ve Toplum. İstanbul: TESEV Yayınları.
6.
DahlRobert A. (1971). Polyarchy: Participation and opposition. New Heaven: Yale University Press.
7.
DiamondLarryPlattnerMarc F.ChuYun-hanTienHung-mao (Eds). (1997). Consolidating the third wave democracies: Themes and perspectives. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
HeperMetinKeymanFuat E. (1998). Double-faced state: Political patronage and the consolidation of democracy in Turkey. Middle Eastern Studies, 34(4), 259–277.
10.
HeperMetinÇınarMenderes. (1996). Parliamentary government with a strong president: The post-1989 Turkish experience. Political Science Quarterly, 3, 483–503.
11.
HuntingtonSamuel P. (1970). ‘Social and institutional dynamics of one-party system’, in HuntingtonSamuel P.MooreClement H. (Eds), Authoritarian politics in modern society: The dynamics of established one-party systems. New York: Basic Books.
12.
HuntingtonSamuel P. (2003). ‘Democracy’s third wave’, in DahlRobert A.ShapiroIanCheibubJosé A. (Eds), The democracy sourcebook. Cambridge and Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.
13.
KahramanHasan B. (2002). ‘Bir Zihniyet, Kurum ve Kimlik Kurucusu Olarak Batılılaşma’, in Modern Türkiye’de Siyasi Düşünce—Modernleşme ve Batıcılık—Cilt 3. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
14.
KökerLevent. (1995). Modernleşme, Kemalizm ve Demokrasi. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
15.
KökerLevent. (2001). ‘Kemalizm/Atatürkçülük: Modernleşme, Devlet ve Demokrasi’, in Modern Türkiye’de Siyasi Düşünce—Kemalizm—Cilt 2. İstanbul: İletişim Yayıncılık.
16.
LeftwichAdrianSenKunal. (2011). ‘Don’t mourn; organize’ institutions and organizations in the politics and economics of growth and poverty-reduction. Journal of International Development, 23, 319–337.
17.
LinzJuan J. (1975). ‘Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes’, in GreensteinFred I.PolsbyNelson W. (Eds), Handbook of political science (Vol. 3). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
18.
LipsetSeymour M. (1960). Political man. New York: Basic Books.
19.
MajoneGiandomenico. (1999). The regulatory state and its legitimacy problem. West European Politics, 22, 1–24.
20.
MardinŞerif. (1973). Centre-periphery relations: A key to Turkish politics. Daedalus, 102(1), 169–190.
21.
MigdalJoel S. (1988). Strong societies and weak states. Princeton and New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
22.
MigdalJoel S. (2001). State in society: Studying how states and societies transform and constitute one another. Cambridge University Press.
23.
MigdalJoel S. (2003). State in society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
24.
Ortaylıİlber. (1998). Türkiye’de Parlamenter Sistemin Sorunlari ve Çözüm Önerileri. Ankara: TİSK Yayınları, pp. 56–64.
25.
ÖnişZiya. (2004). Turkish Modernisation and Challenges for the New Europe. Perceptions—Journal of International Affairs, 9(3), 5–28.
26.
ÖzbudunErgunYazıcıSerap. (2004). Democratisation reforms in Turkey (1993–2004). I.stanbul: TESEV Publications.
27.
ÖzbudunErgun. (1993). ‘State elites and democratic political culture’, in DiamondLarry (Ed.), Political culture and democracy in developing countries. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publications.
28.
ÖzbudunErgun. (1998). ‘Constitution making and democratic consolidation in Turkey’, in HeperMetinKazancigilAliRockmanBert A. (Eds), Institutions and democratic statecraft. Boulder: Westview Press.
29.
ÖzbudunErgun. (2000). Contemporary Turkish politics: Challenges to democratic consolidation. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
30.
PalmaGuiseppe Di. (1990). To craft democracies: An essay on democratic transitions. Berkeley: University of California Press.
31.
SchedlerAndreas. (1998). What is democratic consolidation?Journal of Democracy, 9(2), 91–107.
32.
SeufertGünter. (2002). ‘Die türkische Gesellschaft im Umbruch’, in WehlingHans-Georg, Hrsg., Türkei. Leske + Budrich, Opladen.
33.
SklarRichard L. (1987). Developmental democracy. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 29(4), 686–714.
34.
SkocpolTheda. (1985). ‘Bringing the state back in: Strategies of analysis in current research’, in EvansPeter B.RueschemeyerDietrichSkocpolTheda (Eds), Bringing the state back in. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
35.
TorreblancaJosé I. (2003, April). The enlargement acquis and external strategy: A prelude to deliberative foreign policy? (CPA Estudios / Working Papers). Madrid: Department of Political Science and Administration, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.
36.
TuncaySuavi. (1996). Parti İçi Demokrasi ve Türkiye. Ankara: Gündoğan Yayınları.
37.
WarholaJames W.BezciEgemen B. (2010). Religion and state in contemporary Turkey: Recent developments in Laiklik. Journal of Church and State, 52(3), 427–453.
38.
YavuzHakan. (2003). Islamic political identity in Turkey. New York: Oxford University Press.
39.
ZakariaFareed. (1997). The rise of illiberal democracy. Foreign Affairs, 76(6), 22–43.
