Cover image for Religion, identity and politics : Germany and Turkey in interaction
Title:
Religion, identity and politics : Germany and Turkey in interaction
Series:
Routledge/European sociological association studies in European societies ; 18
Publication Information:
1st ed.

London ; New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013
Physical Description:
viii, 203 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
ISBN:
9780203100660

9780415521383

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30000010334517 BL65.P7 R454 2013 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

German-Turkish relations, which have a long history and generally unrecognized depth, have rarely been examined as mutually formative processes. Isolated instances of influence have been examined in detail, but the historical and still ongoing processes of mutual interaction have rarely been seriously considered. The ruling assumption has been that Germany may have an impact on Turkey, but not the other way around.

Religion, Identity and Politics examines this mutual interaction, specifically with regard to religious identities and institutions. It opposes the commonly held assumption that Europe is the abode of secularism and enlightenment, while the lands of Islam are the realm of backwardness and fundamentalism. Both historically and contemporarily, Germany has treated religion as a core aspect of communal and civilizational identity and framed its institutions accordingly; the book explores how there has been, and continues to be, a mutual exchange in this regard between Germany and both the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey.

The authors show that the definition of identity and regulation of communities have been explicitly based on religion until the early and since the late twentieth century; the period in between- the age of secular nationalism- which has always been treated as the norm, now appears more clearly as an exception. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, politics, history and religion.


Author Notes

Haldun Gülalp is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Global Studies at Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Günter Seufert is a senior researcher with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin.