ABSTRACT
This book looks at how the method of governance apparent in Turkey came into being by applying, and expanding upon, the historical and comparative sociological theory of Michael Mann. In doing so, the Turkish government’s relations with dominant groups in civil society, the nature and extent of its autonomy and its changing approach to representation and sovereignty are examined in historical perspective. This illuminates questions of constitutional and social reform, the re-distributive role of the state and the changing centre-periphery balance with particular reference to the devolution of centralised powers. The book sets out the changing ways in which the Turkish state has represented the interests of, and arbitrated between, various elements of civil society as well as its development of both economic and judicial regulatory regimes. Mann’s conceptual model of the sources of social power is used to analyse the differing ways that these have been institutionalised in Turkey and how state power has been organised in relation to societal networks and associations. This aims to highlight deficiencies and strengths within Mann’s narrative and to present the Turkish trajectory as both a complement and a counterpoint to his analysis of large-scale historical change in Europe.
