Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

1Islamic Social MovementsA comparison of diVerent contemporary Islamic social movementsshows that they are Janus-faced. That is, on the one hand they aremodern and socially and politically “progressive” and expressyearnings for democracy and economic development; on the otherhand they are conservative and “authoritarian,” calling for a strictmoral-religious code in society.Consequently, tension is an inherent characteristic of mostIslamic social movements. Ironically, this tension between “progressive”and “authoritarian” aspects of religious movements is the sourceof religious innovation. Unfortunately, many scholars of Islam fail tosee the complex nature of modern Islamic social movements and seekto explain them according to textual (essentialist) or economic reductionist(contextualist) readings of Islam. This book challenges suchinterpretations, arguing instead that, by embracing certain opportunityspaces within the public sphere, Islamic movements could become amotivating force for economic expansion, democratization, and thepopular acceptance of many aspects of modernity.I believe that a third approach, that of the constructivists, oVersa sounder and more nuanced theoretical framework to analyze theformation of Islamic political identity in contemporary Islamicmovements. Thus I use the constructivist approach to diVerentiateopportunity spaces from the political opportunity structure and thenexamine the way Muslims have utilized these spaces to makedemands for political, social, and economic inclusion, in addition tojustice. SpeciWcally, by reexamining the interplay between thegovernmental policies of Turkey and societal resistance, I have beenable to introduce a new typology of Islamic social movements basedon the expansion and shrinking of opportunity spaces.