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degrees of involvement in the political game, vvhenever they consideredthat "deviation" from the original pattern became too wide.In the course of these four decades of democratic transition and theestablishment of a dynamic market economy (Turkey is by now a majörregional economic power), two related basic features oef a modern democracy—a civil society and a process of individuation- have emerged.Together with the market economy, these two elements indicate the irreversibledifferentiation and plurality of Turkish polity. As a result, the politicalpovver has a multiplicity of sources. The State institutions, and especiallythe military bureaucracy, see some of the expressions of thesedevelopments as threats to the unity of the Republic.The civil society has grown in opposition to the State, but also, insome respects, to politics 8 . The development of a strong market economy,the remarkable expansion of entrepreneurship, the on-going individuationprocess have fostered a more autonomous and pro-active civil society. Itis stili not as "stury" as the Western ones, but it is grovving and gettingstronger. According to offıcial fıgures, the civil society bodies include50.000 associations, 2.700 foundations (vakıf) and 1.200 employers' andworkers' organizations, co-operatives and professional bodies 9 .Civil society mobilized itself in the 1990s around the issues of humanrights violations, the anti-democratic legacy of the 1980-83 regime,the absence of a political solution to the Kurdish question, and the criminalizationof the State and politics. The most important role of civil societyin democratization, especially in the specific historical circumstancesof Turkey, is the structuration of the claims and actions emerging fromindividuals and social groups, which have not so far been adequately recognizedby the State elites, and often by political parties. Against the inabilityof the State to accept the reality of a pluralist society, the weaknessof representative institutions and the lack of credibility of clientelistic politicalparties, the civil society is channelling the public protest and generatingideas for democratic policy reforms. In this respect, the more articulateproposals to reform democracy come from civil society, such as theTÜSIAD (Turkish Industrialist' and Businessmen's Association) reporton "Perspectives on Democratization in Turkey", vvhich identifıes antidemocraticlegal and administrative instruments and practices, and proposesdemocratic alternatives 10 . The same is true as far as the political so-8. In Turkey, the concept of civil society is sometimes confused with the civilianizationof politics, justice and domestic security matters, as against their militarization. Thisis an important issue for the democratization, but civil society has another meaning.It refers to autonomous structures and organizations, differentiated from the State andthe political class, even if it is closely articulated with the latter.9. Türk Tarih Vakfı (1996), Sivil Toplum Kuruluşları Rehberi, İstanbul.10. TÜSIAD Publications, 1997, No. T/97, 1-212. TÜSİAD also diffused reports on thecreation of an Ombudsman, on local authorities and on Associations.237