Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

In the 2002 national elections in Turkey, the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) won a majority of parliamentary seats and the leadership of all government ministries. Viewed by many voters as an alternative to both Turkey’s Kemalist establishment and the country’s Islamist political movement, this self described ‘conservative democratic’ party composed of former Islamist politicians and political neophytes sought to establish a Muslim political identity that was neither Islamist nor secular. This dissertation explores the discourse used by AKP politicians as they navigated several highly charged issues involving the religion-state relationship in Turkey. By examining what geographies AKP politicians articulated in discussing issues of religion and state, how they constructed Islam and the state through these articulations, and how these constructions compare to Kemalist and Islamist versions, this research strives to understand how these politicians are negotiating a moderate religious identity within a context of fundamentalist-secularist polarization. The research also presents an example of how recent changes observed in modern state spatiality are propagating beyond the economic dynamics usually studied. Drawing on statements made by AKP politicians in newspaper reports, legislative debates, and individual interviews, this project examines issues such as imam hatip schools, headscarves, the role of the Directorate of Pious Works, and Turkey’s geopolitical relationships to suggest answers to its research questions. The project concludes that a combination of religious and neoliberal logics is operating within the statements of the AKP politicians studied. By appealing to the individuality of religious choice, these AKP politicians differentiated their party from the deadlock of the Kemalist-Islamist polarity. Their appeal to individual choice suggests that the answer to providing the best welfare for the population is to reduce the state’s involvement in normal processes of everyday space and allow for God and the market to work their respective magics. Within their statements, the state retains a position as a source of knowledge, supporter of research, provider of information, and protector of order. However, the state loses its position as visionary leader and social engineer.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis--Heidelberg. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-171).

The key to understanding Islam and civil society is the state. However, this key issue has been decentered due to the prevailing focus in the literature, that is the compatibility/incompatibility between Islam and civil society. The findings of this thesis reveal emergent Islamic sensibilities and capacities that lead to transitions in state-Islam interaction. These findings call for a rethinking of the theories on civil society and Islam. / The study is based on an extended empirical research project undertaken in Turkey and Kazakhstan between 1997--1999. It focuses on the leading Islamic community-movement in Turkey, Gulen Community, which is not only national(ist) but also internationally organized in numerous countries. Gulen Community aims to reconcile Islamic ways of lives and faith with the secular institutional milieu. Gulen accomplishes its goal mainly (yet not only) through education, i.e., its numerous high schools and universities in Turkey and all around the world. / The main finding of my research contrasts with the juxtaposition of Islam and the state in the literature: Gulen creates the alternative pathways of engagements with the state. The engagements range from domestic symbolic politics and negotiations to international alliances. The thesis examines the engagements in three distinct spheres, i.e., the national education, international undertakings and the gender order. As ethnographic research in Istanbul and Almati revealed, the domestically uneasy interactions between Gulen and the state take the form of overt alliances at the international level. I argue that Gulen's strong identification with the 'nation as the state' facilitates its engagements with the is Republic. Moreover, Gulen's inheritance of the gender strategies of the founding fathers of the nation contributes further to the congruence between Gulen and the state. / My argument is that the engagements can largely be explained by the elective affinities between Islam and the nation-state, which are analyzed at three levels: identity, state and the international world order. The thesis reveals that further research has to be done on the following question: Is the Turkish state in the process of creating a nationalist, non-threatening and pro-state Islam?

This study examines the relationship between Islam and political culture in Pakistan in the four decades following its naissance. It assesses the validity of the argument that a polarity has emerged in the Pakistani political culture, consisting of Islamism and Islamic modernism. In the case of Pakistan, Islamism refers to the use of the primary sources of Islam law, the Qur'an, hadith, and sunnah, in crafting both policy and political institutions. Islamic modernism refers to the systematized use of these primary sources as well as other (external) sources, adjusted for contemporary circumstances. These ideologies, as defined here, are gleaned from the discourse of a Pakistani ideologues, Sayyid Abu'l A 'la Mawdudi and Fazlur Rahman. It examines the thought of Mawdudi and Rahman as the discursive backdrop to the polarity of political culture. It then provides analysis of three regimes which exacerbate this polarity. They include the Islamic modernist regime of Ayub Khan, from 1958 to 1969, the quasi-Islamist regime of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, from 1971 to 1977, and finally the Islamist regime of General Zia ul-Haq, from 1977 to 1988.

The present dissertation studies the Islamic nature of the Acehnese state in the seventeenth century---a subject much neglected by area scholars and Islamicists alike due to the hybrid nature of Southeast Asian Islam. It examines not only the state's Islamic institutions but also its political culture and policies towards Islam. The Acehnese theory of kingship during the period under study manifests a decidedly Islamic character. Deemed to possess both political and religions authority, the office of the sult&dotbelow;an was viewed as necessary and its incumbent responsible for both the prosperity of his people and the enforcement of Islamic dogma. The court's policies towards Islam, given outward expression in elaborate religious rituals and ceremonies, reveal an imperial tradition in which the ruler himself was the head of the Muslim state, despite the apparent admixture of Southeast Asian elements. Other more traditional Islamic institutions were also fundamental to the Acehnese state. The 'ulama' played a significant role in both the religions and political spheres, while Islamic law became a dominant part of the judicial system, alongside adat (customary law and royal edicts/tradition). Jihad as well served to define the ideology of the state. In spite of its Southeast Asian appearance, therefore, the Islamic nature of the Acehnese state was more evident than in many other Muslim states in the region, such as fifteenth-century Melaka and seventeenth-century Mataram, a situation induced by geography, historical Islam, and the nature of Acehnese tradition.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 522-552).

Thesis (M.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): Anna Simons, James Russell. "AD-A405 606." Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-59). Also available online.