Nato’s Islamists, Cihan Tugal, and the SSRC

Berkeley sociology professor Cihan Tugal has written a great article in the New Left Review on Turkey’s ruling party, the Justice and Development Party, that does an excellent job of explaining its wide appeal (at least initially), its pro-American policies, and the growing opposition it has recently faced. 

The article actually does much more, getting readers up to speed on class politics, Islamism, and the Kurdish situation over the last 30 years in Turkey — it’s not a quick read, but definitely worth your time if you’re interested in modern Turkey.  Incidentally, the article also explains why my grandma’s concern that the U.S. and Turkey might be on the road to war is nothing to lose sleep over.

I first learned of the article, but not Cihan, when an administrator at the Social Science Research Council, which is providing most of the  funding for my dissertation research, let me know that the fellowship selection committee thought I should get to know Cihan’s work.  If they only knew!  Cihan and his wife are old friends of my wife and they even attended our wedding reception in Iowa.  In fact, we were planning to meet them for tea this weekend when I got the SSRC email, so I found this amusing.  It’s nice to know we’re all on the same wavelength.