Turkey is a relatively young republic and a non-consolidated democracy. Raised from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, the young nation claimed its place among other nation-states in 1923. Tumultuous, exciting and sometimes fragile - Turkey paved its way to its own style of democracy. For many decades the country was the pillar of hope for liberal democracies in the Middle East. But today, many observers claim that Turkey is on the crossroads of a major change. Economically weak and socially divided the country could not defeat his ancients’ demons and still struggles with issues like secularism, participation of civil society and different understandings of democracy.

The aim of this course is to provide students with a basic understanding of the historical background, structure, actors, ideology, and dynamics of Turkish politics. Therefore, we will start with the political developments in the second half of the 20th century after we touch briefly on the ottoman legacy. Each week we will approach another episode in Turkey’s political framework to get a comprehensive understanding of today‘s dynamics.

2 LP – Referat

4 LP – Referat plus Seminarbeit

Registration required via: https://www.zak.kit.edu/anmeldung.php/event/46115#calendar_top