Globalization, alternative modernities and the political economy of Turkey

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to provide a political economic analysis of the changing nature of Turkish modernity since the 1980s, especially in the 1990s. Our analysis is founded upon the three years-long research (1999-2002) we have done on the question of 'the impacts of globalization on Turkey'. The Turkish economy has collapsed on 19 February 2001, and since then it has been going through a very strong and harsh restructuring programme aiming at creating a new mode of regulation of the state-society relations. The paper argues in this context that a political economic analysis of Turkish modernity is timely and necessary not only to understand the significant changes that have occurred in societal relations in terms of the emergence of new economic and civil society actors and their discourses / strategies, but also, and more importantly, to see that a long-term solution to the economic crisis requires taking seriously these actors and their societal visions. In doing so, the paper also attempts to contribute to the literature on global / alternative modernities by demonstrating how economy and culture are articulated in a specific national contenxt.