ABSTRACT
This chapter involves to set the ideas produced by prominent contemporary Kemalist intellectuals against ideological streams contemporary Kemalism with certain obvious affinities. Even a short account of the historical development of social democracy and nationalism reveals that contemporary Kemalism easily finds common ground with both of these ideological traditions. However, this classic nation-state model of a common unitary national identity does not make Kemalism incompatible with the classic social-democrat position. It is, however, incompatible with the current multiculturalist liberal-democratic ideal, the position also taken by the contemporary Western European social-democrat parties. Thus, the liberal critics of Kemalism in Turkey usually ridicule Kemalists and neo-nationalist's anti-globalisation and statist or protectionist economic views as anachronistic examples of these groups ideological approach to sociopolitical issues. These critics often present their own views as non-ideological pragmatism, implying that globalisation, free trade, and deregulated economic policies not only produce welfare for all but also further Turkey's democratisation.
