Eighteenth Annual Conference of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies (ACSIS)

Abstract

The American Cowicil for the study of Islamic Societies (ACSIS) held its18th Annual Conference April 27-28, 2001 at Villanova University,Pennsylvania. ACSIS was established in 1983 to bring together scholarsengaged in the study of Islamic Societies and states around the world fromreligious, cultural, economic and political perspectives. ACSIS also has astrong focus on Pakistan Studies. The program director, Dr. Hafeez Malikmust be congratulated for consistency with which ACSIS continues to meetand produce its publication The Journal of South Asian and Middle EasternStudies.In a small symposium with a total of seven panels and some 20 speakers(except the absentees), panel areas covered ranged from Turkey and theWest to Muslims in Tibet and China, while the subjects were as diverse asforeign policy, media studies and pluralism.The first panel began with the discussion of Turkey's role in the EuropeanUnion (EU). Augusta State University's Michael Bishku's presented"Destination European Union? The Politics and Economics of Turkey'sCase for Admission" The paper put the conference to a good start becausethe following two papers by James Sowerwine and John Vander Lippedealt with topic directly related to Turkey's admission into EuropeanUnion. Respectively, these papers were "The Role of Turkey in EuropeanSecurity" and "Turkish-American Relations".Bishku pointed out at the unevenness and asymmetrical relationship thatcharacterized the Turkey-EU relations. EU's integration itself is notentirely a democratic exercise but a product of European search forenduring security, a quasi-Utopian dream of European integrationideologues and a generation of technocratic elite who want Europe unified.Similarly, the earlier Turkish elite wanted to enter EU for the reasons ofchanging identity, economic or civilizational, whereas the society at thattime was still traditional and felt a deeper bond with the Muslim world thansecular Europe. However, the current Turkish drive for membership in EUcomes surprisingly not from the secular elite but the very Islamic sectors ofsociety; while the elite wants to hold on to the Kemalist power apparatus,the society wants to democratize and join the EU, because by doing so, thestate will no longer be able to pursue its Machiavellian tactics on itscitizens, as it would have to abide by, in substance, to the Human Rights ...