The authors put issues relevant to Turkey today, such as consolidating democracy, dealing with economic development issues, improving its human rights record and its foreign policy, in an historical context.

The authors put issues relevant to Turkey today such as consolidating democracy, dealing with economic development issues, improving its human rights record and its foreign policy in an historical context, allowing comparisons with other late developers in the world and reflecting the complexity of Turkish political and socio-economic developments. Turkey also argues that the modernization process that started in the nineteenth century, with all its elements including secularization and Westernization, has taken root."