Review by Choice Review
This slim volume addresses the obstacles and challenges Turkey confronts in moving to a consolidated political system responsive to the increasing demands of its civil society. Among the obstacles are the privileged role of the military emphasized by interventions in 1960, '71, '80 and '97. The constitutions of 1961, '71 and '82 also privileged the military and political elites. The challenge of political Islam and of Kurdish nationalism during this period contributed to excluding further the participation of corporate, autonomous, and intermediary social groups. The author concludes that, in contrast to representative or institutionalized democracies, (e.g. Spain, Portugal and Greece) Turkey is best characterized as a "delegative democracy," i.e., one that stresses personalism, little horizontal accountability, no independent judiciary, and decision making largely by presidential decree. The book presents a good overview but is weakened by the sparse account of the effects of Kurdish nationalism and political Islam, which have been the main obstacles to Turkey's inability to consolidate its democracy during the past two decades. The book is very expensive given that most of the material has been published previously. Recommended for undergraduate and graduate student collections. R. W. Olson; University of Kentucky
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
