The present study offers a thorough account of the activities of the radical left in Turkey between 1960-1980 and shows how these formed a major contributing factor to the political instability of the country and the military coups that took place in March 1971 and September 1980.
The military coup of May 1960 liberalized political life in Turkey, and a legal leftist movement arose, combining in its ranks social-democratic, trade-unionist and Marxist elements. Many of these were united in the framework of the Turkish Labour Party. The ideological and political struggle within the leftist...

The Arab-Israeli conflict has become an example of total disregard for international law by all parties involved, including the United Nations, to the detriment of a regional and global lasting peace. The conflict has contributed considerably to the erosion of the moral and legal authority of the United Nations, while the international community has failed to take prompt advantage of the East-West detente. Peoples with statehood -- the Iraqis, Somalis, Yugoslavs -- and even more those without -- the Palestinians -- paid a high price for the international lack of decisiveness. Dynamics of...

Cultural Transitions in the Middle East deals with the interlacing of themes constitutive of traditional cultures and world-views in the Middle East with concepts and outlooks that have originated in the modern Western World. A number of Muslim thinkers who are indigenous products of the Middle East cultural setting have now begun to use some of the forms of modern Western literature and social thought. Conversely, some intellectuals trained in modern secular schools have attempted to reevaluate their Islamic heritage. The papers cover aspects of this subtle interpenetration which has...

This highly original study of a Turkish statesman can be read as an introduction into Turkish politics. In his very clearly written and stimulating political biography of İsmet İnonu, Metin Heper presents to the reader a highly motivated, self-reflecting and self-conscious political leader. İsmet İnonu played a critical role in the founding of the Turkish Republic, further promoting Westernization, and the transition to and the consolidation of democracy in Turkey. This volume is the first treatise on this remarkable statesman in any Western language. It challenges such...

Egypt's Economic Predicament contains a succinct and lucid analysis of virtually all the major economic problems of Egypt: their origin, development and the prospect of solving them. It presents today's economic problems of Egypt in a wider historical context and shows their relationship to current social issues, including the growth of religious fanaticism. The book also contains a powerful critique of the "Structural Adjustment" program of reform, which constitutes today's conventional wisdom. The subtitle of the book describes it as "a study in the interaction of external pressure,...

With the Cold War behind us, Turkey has emerged as a major economic entity and an important partner for discussions of advancement and progress for the region. Turkey: Political, Social and Economic Challenges in the 1990s explores minutely in 14 chapters the interaction between domestic structural variables and the changes in the external environment to predict future developments for Turkey. The authors are well-known specialists in their fields and policy-makers, whilst the data are as up-to-date as possible in this world of regularly changing figures.

Is the Middle East "the mother of all conflicts"?
This volume, consisting of essays published over a space of twenty-five years but extensively rewritten and updated, probes into the forever problematic relationship between the Middle East and Western Europe, between a revitalizing Islamic and a post-Christian civilization.
It treats, firstly, the dynamics of the Middle Eastern civilization, building up a kaleidoscopic picture of the Middle Eastern perception of change and development; modern science in a non-Western context; the ambiguity of westernization in Middle Eastern...

This extremely timely book deals with the development of Bulghar regional identity among Tatars and Bashkirs, i.e. Volga-Ural Muslims.
Based on locally-produced Islamic manuscrips, the book examines how these Muslims manipulated local legends, conversion narratives, and sacred geography to create a body of sacred historiography that expressed a meaningful regional identity, and one which responds to the changing relationship between these Muslims and the Russian state over the nineteenth century.
The book also traces the debate between traditionalist supporters and reformist detractors...

Following the war of 1948 Palestine's Druzes became part of the state of Israel. Overwhelmingly rural, they sought to safeguard their community's age-old ethnic independence by holding on to their traditional ethno-religious particularism. Ethnicity and ethnic issues, however, were ready tools for the Zionists in the pursuit of their policy aims vis-a-vis the state's Arab population. Central among these was the cooptation of part of the Druze elite in an obvious effort to alienate the Druzes from the other Arabs - creating "good" Arabs and "bad" Arabs served the Jewish state as a foil for its...