Modernization Theory And Its Impact On The Future Of Turkey 's Democratic Institutions

The Modernization efforts undertaken by the leadership of Iran and Turkey after World War I share numerous similarities across ideological, and social lines. Both countries shared and benefitted from strong social identities, and resistance to outside influence. While these countries were unified using comparable methods, they were also exploited to further the individual goals of both countries? respective leaders.

In almost every law the constitution is present. It creates a basis for our american government and contains speech that prevents misuse of power. One of the main characteristics of the Constitutional government is the Higher Law. This law promises final authority of government and is known to be superior to any Federal or State Law. As Americans, we take the Higher Law passionately, only allowing it to be changed with serious consent and consideration from the citizens. The Higher Law also helps us recognize that the government contains limitations when it comes to the citizens’ rights and responsibilities. The governing body is placed under the authority of the constitution, which includes the rights of the people.

What has lead Turkey to dramatically shift its policy? How big of a role has the sense of identity play in this matter? This paper will argue that although the population of Turkey is predominantly Muslim, it also represents a secular state with western style democracy. It plays a critical geopolitical role since it is in the center of Europe and the Middle East. It is also the revival of an identity the Islamist feared had been overshadowed by the West and the Western culture. Therefore, in today’s globalized world, Turkey plays a vital role in complying both Islamic and western ideals to appeal to both of the civilizations.

Public law is the relationship between the government and its’ constituents. The Court has been a key player in ensuring the majority rule, the Framers envisioned. The Court is not only an officer over governmental actions, but ensures fundamental freedoms. The Court is the mediator to issues between the people and the government. The Supreme Court asserts judicial responsibility in addressing the concerns of the people in times of crisis. Judicial intervention is necessary and thus has become a powerful branch with vast influence over the executive and legislative. The Framers understood that the Constitution could not answer all questions or resolve all the problems that would arise throughout history. They trusted that the future generations

Another important point made by the author is, courts have stretched their impact over the official branch, with correspondingly affect controls. The present burdens of the national government have their foundations in decisions around established laws made long back. Hence, the likeliness of change is

Courts can be cheaper to run then adding more branches of government. “Constitutional designers will choose judicial review if and only if the expected costs of electoral loss exceed the net agency costs of judicial review” (Ginsburg, 32). The international context of constitutional drafting is another desirable factor of judicial review. “Constitutional designers do not operate in a vacuum, and there is a growing international norm that constitutions include some sort of institution to exercise constitutional oversight.” (Ginsburg, 26).

I believe courts should ensure that the laws formulated are followed to the letter. Citizens’ rights should also be protected to minimize racism, unemployment and low social, economic and political levels. The court has the authority to punish law offenders hence they will make sure there is punishment for those who fail to observe the rules. They have helped to eliminate racism and unemployment in most of the people and also working environments. The judicial is able to formulate policies which in accordance with the constitution.

In its relative dark history Turkey, has come a long way. Overcoming its continuing struggle with its Muslim dominance, to becoming a powerful democratic Muslim state. Seeking full membership into the European Union (EU) to be a first Muslim EU state, and a member of NATO. With the country being part of not only Europe, it also shares geopolitical aspects with Asia and the Middle East, Mediterranean and Balkans. While trying to bring modern values to an elected Islamist government.

If we look deeply at the government structure, we can see that historically, Turkey lacks government openness. With the birth of the Turkish republic in 1923, the Turkish government did not satisfy the demands of the Kurds who were seeking independence. And since it is more of an authoritarian and closed system, the public opinion did no have any impact on the government.

With the development of human society, civilization is incessantly progressive. One aspect of human civilization’s progress is political civilization. Democratic politics can be considered to be the representatives of political civilization. When people refer to the history of human progress, they find that human beings struggle to achieve this great goal and no one can stop the human desire for political freedom. In 2011, one more country took a step towards democracy. Egypt is in the ancient, sacred and conservative Middle East. Egyptians are cheering for their own political aspirations as they overthrew Mubarak’s dictatorship, and are gradually making efforts to establish a democratic and peaceful country.

Turkey, a relatively new nation, is not new to internal conflict and the oppression of minorities. Wedged between Europe and the Middle East, the area occupied by Turkey has long served as a crossroads between these areas, and, as a result, Turkey's majority Islamic Arab populace is smattered with significant pockets of minorities. These religious and ethnic minorities have been the source of much controversy in Turkey, but now change appears to be on the horizon. As Turkey seeks the approval of the European Union, it has begun to implement impressive humanitarian reforms that should drastically improve the plight of the minorities that call the nation home.

The transition of a multinational empire to a nation state has happened; therefore, Turkey's national identity has been established. In the creation of this identity, qualification of individuals as a 'citizen' has been a crucial point. Ataturk found the path for the public administration by setting a new democracy which is “Republic”.

In recent months we have seen political unrest in Tunisia, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. In each of these countries the political leadership had amassed immense power and was using these powers to restrain and limit their countrymen from development. The ruling class clearly had formed a political structure with a clear agenda to inhibit the growth of their fellow citizens. In the past few decades, people from these countries have endured structural violence due to political hegemony. Exposure to western media has made the people realize the advantage of distributed power. Hence these countries are witnessing a surge of protest, with people fighting against the system. Parsons emphasizes on the distribution of political power and its effects throughout his

Over half of the countries in the world are considered democracies, one of which being Turkey. Turkey believes that they are a model of a true democracy while other countries believe that Turkey is very far from being considered a democracy. This has been an ongoing argument amongst many people. If we take in to consideration what it means to be a true democracy, then Turkey would only possess a few of those qualities. If we were to look at the basic structure and elements of a dictatorship, Turkey would fit into majority of them. This is what leads me to believe that Turkey should not be considered a democracy but instead a soft dictatorship. There is a lot of evidence that would prove as to why Turkey should not be considered a democracy including, lack of freedom in many different way, lack of suffrage rights, a long process of trying to become a member of the European Union, high levels of government control, and high military power.

In the past Turkey has had a lot of dealings with the European Union in order to join the Union and officially be a part of Europe. Relations between the state and an intergovernmental have been fairly long and drawn out as Turkey had tried to join the European Union.  As they have jumped through hoops to become a member of Europe certain human rights and democratic rule issues came up that stalled the progress on integration into the Union. Although many attempts to reach out to the other side has been made there has some but little progress that has been made to integrate Turkey into the European Union. Further complications arose when a coup attempt occurred mid July led by a group believed to be Islamist Insurgents. On top of this attempted coup coup, the government in the eyes of the Union are abusing their power by using the coup to oust any political rivals. Integration into the European way of life may be stalled even longer with the recent occurrences and lack of ethics.