The Political Economy of Secularism in Turkey: Beyond Culturalist and Ideational Explanations

Abstract

Secularism and its historical development have been a tense issue in the political development and modernization of Turkey. When the historiography on the evolution of the Turkish type of secularism is analyzed, one could observe that fact it is remarkably dominated by modernist and culturalist perspectives. In this article, after a critique of modernist and reductionist explanations in the literature on the historical constitution and evolution of secularism in Turkey, a critical political-economic perspective will be presented with a focus on the social struggle on the role and meaning of the religion and secularism in Turkey. For this purpose, the historical development of secularism will be analyzed not as an elite-led process or a mere reflection of the cultural dichotomy between the reforming ruling elites and masses. On the contrary, there would be an investigation based on the material sources of the rise of the secularist agenda, within the context of the formation of the political and legal construction of a viable regime of capitalist property relations and respective state control. In this context, strict state control on the religious affairs and assertive secularist reforms in the early Republican era, as well as the politicization of the religion during the multi-party years, will be comprehended via an analysis of the political-economic considerations of the ruling elites and different social classes competing on the role of the religion in the society. Such an understanding would eventually help to understand the current limits of the secularism in Turkey, as well as the ongoing hegemonic struggle over its content which would shape the future of the secularist regime.