The Study Of The Turkish Islamic Movement On The Perspectives Of Social Movement Theory

The Turkish Republic was established as a secular regime when Ottoman Empire collapsed after the WWI.Nonetheless,numerous Islamic movements in the newborn secular republic were so invigorating and inspiring,they led to confrontation between secular elites and Islamic intellectuals.This was the beginning of something that would take an important role in Turkish political and social development for decades to come.The process began as a faction of Islamic intellectuals,who defined Islam as individual spiritual consciousness,led the Turkish Islamic movement to concentrate in the field of civil society;while other Islamic intellectuals formed a differing faction,leading instead,the Turkish Islamic movement to concern itself with party politics and political endeavors.Therefore,Islam existed with Islamic intellectuals engaged in both civil society and party politics under the pressure of a secular regime.However,the secular forces in Turkish politics gradually declined between the year of 2002 when the Justice and Development Party came into power and the year of 2016 when the Attempted Coup happened,whereas the competition and confrontation between Islamic intellectuals dominated the political and social development in Turkish republic.The study of the developing and expanding process of Turkish Islamic movement in this dissertation adopted an analysis framework based on the social movement theory.But none school of social movement theory could well explain Turkish Islamic movement alone;in addition,the influence of the religion of Islam to Turkish political development and social change is powerful and profound.Therefore,the analytical method of religious political science runs throughout the social movement theory's analysis framework of the entire dissertation.The enriched analysis framework could be used to answer the questions: how Islamic movement could embark in secular Turkish republic? How the Islamic party came into power? How Turkish Islamic movement in ciliv society,like Gülen movement,constituted the so-called “parallel state” within Turkey? Why Turkish Islamic movement in party politics and civil society competed and confronted with each other? How the competation and confrontation between Turkish Islamic movement in party politics and civil society developed into a military coup? Why Islamic movement in party politics led by Turkish Islamic parties won and dominated the Turkish Islamic movement since then?Based on the perspectives from different schools,the enriched social movement theory's analysis framework developed by this dissertation contains three main elements,political opportunity structure,organizational networks,and strategic formulation.Political opportunity structures are determined by the political landscape in which the social movement exists.The landscape encompasses proceedings in international politics,domestic politics,and actions by the movement's activist leaders.Organizational networks are affected by the characteristics of the specific social movement,and are formed by intrinsic links among different organizations.Organizational networks determine the efficiency of specific social movement.Strategic formulation is the coordination and planning of a specific social movement and affects the fate of the specific social movement.Strategic formulation consists of ideological construction,the social movement expectations and the way to accomplish said expectations.Meanwhile,the three main elements of the enriched analysis framework of social movement theory are dynamic,they are interrelated and indispensable.The favorable political opportunity structures bring qualitative development to specific social movement.Effective organizational networks promote accumulation of quantitative development.Strategic formulation needs to be adjusted according to the progress of the specific social movement.The complete and flexible strategic formation could improve the efficiency of organizational networks,exploit political opportunity structures,which means to seize upon the existing political opportunity structures while creat new ones.Analysis of this dissertation indicates that Turkish Islamic movement has seized upon three important political opportunity structures.First is the emergence of the political opportunity structure,which allowed the social movement activists of the National Order Party and National Salvation Party to act within a legal framework.Fethullah Gülen and Gülen movement rose from preexisting Islamic movements in Turkey.Second is the development of the political opportunity structure.The Welfare Party,successor to National Order Party and National Salvation Party,seized upon this second political opportunity to work with ruling party and send members into it,meanwhile Gülen movement expanded its infiltration beyond that of education.Third is the expansion of the political opportunity structure,with which Justice and Development Party was elected as a single ruling party,the its collaboration with Gülen movement dealt the Turkish military a weakening blow.Gülen movement seized this opportunity to infiltrate the state bureaucracy with its Islamic intellectuals,leading Gülen movement to develop beyond the area of civil society.Turkish Islamic movement in party politics and civil society formed their own organizational networks respectively.Turkish Islamic movement in party politics formed the vertical and hierarchical organizational networks by Welfare party,whereas Turkish Islamic movement in civil society formed the horizontal and parallel organizational networks by Gülen movement.Turkish Islamic movement in party politics and civil society framed their own strategic formation,but the divergence in their strategic formation determined that their relationship would be relatively independent but competing.The Attempted Coup on July 15,2016 was analyzed as a case of the alliance and then confrontation between Turkish Islamic inteellectuals.The Turkish Islamic movement has produced participant's eager to participate within Turkey's continual political and social development.The participants within the Turkish Islamic movement not only impact Turkish politics,but also influence the Turkish Islamic movement itself.The clash of the attempted coup on July 15 is both a process and an outcome of the Turkish Islamic movement.The consequences and aftermath of the clash between the Justice and Development Party and Gülen movement will continue to profoundly influence future Turkish political developments and foreign affairs in profuse ways.