Turkey's geographical position, between the Middle East and Europe and at the centre of the current upheavals in the USSR and the Balkans, has led to a reawakening of interest in its international standing. Meanwhile its domestic politics are of increasing interest and Turkey seems to have become a model for Liberal Democracy in Central Asia.

David Hale focuses on the role of the military in contemporary politics. He author argues that the military has behaved quite differently from its counterparts in other third world states: it has acted in some degree as a guardian of the...