The state tradition in Turkey

The state tradition in Turkey

Metin Heper

The Eothen Press

Whilst economists and sociologists may rank Turkey as a developing country, her history has more in common with that of certain European states than with those in the third world. Consequently third world explanations of political instability are not so relevant for Turkey.
What Turkey principally shares as a historical legacy with European countries like France and Germany is a state tradition — a feature which distinguishes the generality of continental European states from those in the Anglo-American fold. In Turkey the state tradition has been both a source, and consequence, of political instability. This book seeks therefore, to explain the trials and tribulations of Turkish democracy in the light of the Turkish state tradition, which has the peculiarity, moreover, that it has emerged from a patrimonial background, not from decentralized feudalism, as in the case of France and Germany. This has provided an added difficulty for the establishment of a plural political system.
Professor Metin Heper, who holds a doctorate from Syracuse University, is Chairman of the Department of Public Administration at Bogaziçi University, Istanbul. He has been a research Associate at Harvard University, a Visiting Professor at Southwest Texas State University, Martin Lester Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor at the University of Connecticut. In addition to contributing widely to international scholarly journals, Professor Heper has published eight books in Turkey (in both English and Turkish) and is co-editor of, and contributor to, Islam and Politics in the Middle East (Croom Helm, 1984) and Dilemmas of Decentralization: the Municipal Government Reform in Istanbul (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 1986).

Metin Heper, a Ph.D. of Syracuse University, is Professor of Political Science at Bogaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey. Professor Heper has been a Research Associate at Harvard University, a Visiting Professor at Southwest Texas State University, Martin Lester Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor at the University of Connecticut. Professor Heper has contributed to several scholarly journals, including Administration and Society, International Review of Modern Sociology, International Journal of Political Education, International Political Science Review, Comparative Politics, and Comparative Studies in Society and History, as well to many collected volumes. Professor Heper has published eight books in Turkey (both in English and Turkish), and is co-editor of, and contributor to Islam and Politics in the Modern Middle East (Croom Helm, 1984) and author of The State Tradition in Turkey (Eothen, 1985).