8 Hasret Dikici Bilgin Final Confirmed

7/25/2019 8 Hasret Dikici Bilgin Final Confirmed

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CHAPTER 8

CIVIL SOCIETY AND STATE IN TURKEY: A GRAMSCIAN

PERSPECTIVE

Hasret Dikici-Bilgin

Introduction

The general elections in Turkey held on 22 July 2007 resulted in the landslide victory of

AKP [Justice and Development Party] (Turkish upreme !lectoral "oard 2007#$ and

started a second four%year ruling period for the Party& The Party 'as formed y

politicians 'ho 'ere actively affiliated 'ith the )slamist movement in Turkey

previously* therefore$ the victory of the Party raised suspicion among Turkish

secularists$ including the military& )n its first period$ the Party had serious conflicts 'ith

the military to the e+tent that a 'arning 'as released on the military,s official 'esite$

dued as an -e%coup, in the ne'spapers ("oland 2007#& )n this conte+t$ the outcome of

the elections$ 'hich 'ere held .ust a fe' months later$ has een interpreted y some

commentators as the reaction of civil society to the intervention of the military in

politics (/flao1lu 2007#&

)nterpretation of the elections as such$ indeed$ reveals one of the mainstream

evaluations of civil society in Turkey& The deate over civil society$ 'hich has


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flourished particularly since the late 340s and early 330s$ predominantly

conceptualies civil society as a democratiation mechanism against the military,s

persistence in politics$ identifying the military as the prominent representative of the

Turkish state tradition& uch formulations of -civil, society as opposed to the -military,$

and$ thus$ to the -state,$ has een introduced y pulications from the Turkish left such

asBirikim, Zemin and Yeni Gndem(5uuk6u 333 89#& :o'ever$ today$ this kind of

conceptualiation is mostly emraced y lierals$ lieral leftists$ neo%conservatives and

)slamists (!rcan 2002 79#&

This chapter ackno'ledges that the interactions in civil society might lead to further

democratiation& :o'ever$ it criticies the ready identification of civil society as a

counter%hegemonic force in the Turkish case from a ;ramscian perspective& )t argues

that civil society is rather a site for hegemonic struggles and that these struggles

determine the outcome 'hich might not necessarily result in any further

democratiation of domestic politics& The chapter egins 'ith an evaluation of


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The importance of ;ramsci,s vie's on civil society for the interpretation of

contemporary politics in Turkey lies in the fact that ;ramsci discusses civil society not

as a separate sphere$ as is the main tendency in Turkey$ ut rather 'ithin the conte+t of

a comple+ 'e of relations et'een civil society and the state& )n other 'ords$ the

;ramscian evaluation of the relationship et'een state and civil society diverges from

lieral accounts in 'hich the orders of the state and civil society are strictly

demarcated and$ the state is supposed to refrain from e+tensive intervention into civil

society (;ramsci 37 93%=0#& >n the contrary$ ;ramsci focuses on the contingent

nature of these relations and emphasies that the relations et'een civil society and

state might take multiple forms across time and space& The agencies in civil society

might develop in opposition to the state in one conte+t$ 'hile in other conte+ts the state

might refer to the totality of civil society and political society$ or the state might even

e identified 'ith civil society itself (


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'hich contemporary society emerged 'ith multiple layers and interactions&


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that there are continuous interactions et'een these spheres as oth civil society and

political society are part of the hegemonic struggles&

?hat -hegemony, refers to also varies in the Prison Notebooks in accordance 'ith

;ramsci,s discussion of civil society and state relations )n some places$ hegemony is

referred to as the opposite of domination (;ramsci 37 2#$ and in some other places$

it is aout creating and maintaining leadership (:oare and mith 37 +iv#&

:egemony$ in this latter usage$ is a ruling practice 'hich aims at forming a collective

'ill and a particular understanding of the 'orld 'hich 'ould result in ac@uiring the

consent of the ruled ("oio 373 80#& Therefore$ in ;ramsci,s conceptualiation$ the

state ecomes -hegemony protected y the armour of coercion,$ as the state here is used

as the sum of political society and civil society (Bacca 342 89* ;ramsci 37 2=A#*

'hile civil society ecomes the site for the struggles for hegemony$ a sphere in 'hich

hegemony operates (Gouffe 373 0#& The gist of this elaoration goes eyond the

political analyses 'hich see the state as an instrument of the ruling class and as the

entity that monopolies the use of force in and on society& Hevertheless$ ;ramsci does

not deny the state,s function for ruling or the fact that the state uses force as part of its

ruling strategy& >n the contrary$ a ;ramscian understanding of the state ackno'ledges

coercion and domination$ yet it goes eyond coercion and indicates that ruling has (and

should have# a consensual ase& )ndeed$ for ;ramsci$ ruling is aout organiing consent

and certain tools for organiing consent might e coercive ("uci%;lucksmann 373

=#& The concept of hegemony as intellectual$ cultural and political leadership (Gouffe

373 0# allo's us to realie that ruling classes do not operate only in terms of their

narro' interests$ ut make (and should make# compromises (Gouffe 373 40# and


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articulate 'ider interests e+isting in society& )n this sense$ ruling is .ustified and the

active consent of the ruled is ac@uired ("uci%;lucksmann 373 22#& Therefore$ ruling

is not only aout force or domination e+ercised on civil society$ ut it is also aout

ac@uiring consent& This of course makes conceptualiing civil society purely in

opposition to political society unrealistic$ since ac@uiring consent implies a dialectical

relation et'een the t'o spheres&

:aving stated that state and civil society are organically connected$ one @uestion

remains unans'ered 'hat is the scope of civil society$ 'here hegemony 'ill operateI

"oio argues that unlike Gar+$ ;ramsci identifies civil society 'ith the

superstructure& )n this sense$ civil society is developed as the -hegemonic apparatus of

the ruling group, 'hich 'as illustrated y the church in the Giddle


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society might ring democratiation (


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To sum up$ the contriution of a ;ramscian perspective to our understanding of

contemporary societies is that it goes eyond a simple dichotomous evaluation of the

relations et'een civil society and the state (or political society#& )t provides a

frame'ork in 'hich 'e can oth see state and civil society as a 'hole and as different

ut interacting spheres$ and understand these relations in the hegemonic struggle of

ac@uiring consent in addition to force or domination& ince the era of ;ramsci$ the

nation%state has gone through many transformations and civil society has ecome more

comple+& The consensual asis of ruling gradually gained more importance as electoral

democracy ecame the dominant form of ruling around the 'orld& )n this conte+t$ a

;ramscian evaluation of the interactions et'een civil society and the state then

provides us 'ith an analytical tool for interpreting and criticiing contemporary

mainstream approaches to Turkish politics 'hich evaluate and analye state and civil

society as t'o separate spheres$ 'ith the former seen as imposing almost only force on

the latter and the responses from the latter as unconditionally democratiing& The ne+t

section e+pands this mainstream interpretation of Turkish politics after a rief depiction

of the development of state and civil society in Turkey&

THE STATE TRADITION AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN TURKEY

Development of the state in Turkey is interpreted in various 'ays y scholars&

:o'ever$ one common point is the reference to a strong state tradition (Nuicek 2002

7=A#$ estalished during the early years of the repulic and repeatedly reproduced over

time$ 'hich puts more emphasis on aspects of ruling concerned 'ith force or

domination rather than on attempts at ac@uiring consent&


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The tenets of the ideological formation of the repulic are identified 'ith three pillars

civic nationalism$ secularism and moderniation from aove (NL6Lktok 2008 3#&

:eper(2000 70$ 79# notes that the idea of a strong state 'as mostly consolidated y

/smet /nOnL % the second president of the Turkish repulic after ttoman period (Gardin

3=3 2=9#& ocial classes$ moreover$ 'ere not developed and 'ere highly dispersed

(Gardin 37 200#$ 'hich also marked the initial period of Turkey& :o'ever$ in

Gardin,s interpretation$ it is implied that the state tradition operated on the 'ider

terrain of society& )n the process of estalishing a strong state tradition$ there 'as an

intention to construct a ne' conception of the 'orld and form a collective 'ill in

accordance 'ith repulican values& Gardin (37 202# states that the ne' repulic

tried to constitute and develop ne' values against the old values$ the core of 'hich 'as

identified as )slam& This implies that the formation of the state 'as not only aout

sustaining order y force$ ut rather$ 'as also aout estalishing hegemony 'ithin the

domain of civil society& )ndeed$ GardinAindicates that systematic use of force 'as not a

characteristic feature of the Turkish evolution (Gardin 37 34#&


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the construction of the ideal of the strong state and the attempt to gain the consent of

the ruled for that ideal 'as aimed at civil society (:eper 2000 4#& Gardin$ indeed$

defines the Turkish revolution as a -revolution of values, (Gardin 37 203#&

Therefore$ in ;ramscian terms$ estalishment and consolidation of the Turkish state

involved forming a asis of consent in civil society and ecoming hegemonic 'ith a

ne' 'orld vie' ackno'ledged y the citiens& oercion might e part of the attempt to

consolidate the state$ ut this 'as accompanied y the aim of ac@uiring the consent of

society for repulican values and norms& To put it more clearly$ it 'as not only aout

coercing people to aide y the conse@uences of the aove%mentioned three pillars$ ut

also aout transforming society so that the people 'ould internalie the repulican

values&

ecularism has een developed as the heart of the official ideology 'ith an intention to

create a -modern secular%su.ect in secular terms, (KncL 200A A=# and face do'n the

remnants of the ancien regime (the phrase is used y :eper (2000 72##& This might also

e interpreted as an attempt to replace previous hegemonic leadership of values 'ith a

ne' organiation of kno'ledge& :ere$ ;ramscian thinking helps us understand the

estalishment and consolidation of the Turkish state tradition not as a mere act of the

state imposing a ne' system on society y force$ ut rather as a process in 'hich the

state goes eyond resorting to force$ and tries to form values and a collective 'ill in

civil society through the pillars of the constitutive repulican ideology& )t is a process of

transforming a society ased on religion to a society in 'hich the citiens$ no longer

su.ects$ 'ould define themselves around secular principles and a civic

conceptualiation of Turkishness&


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This of course is not to deny the coercive aspect of the state$ as ;ramscian theory also

ackno'ledges& "eginning from the early years$ political parties challenging the official

ideology % among 'hich leftists and )slamists constituted the ma.ority % 'ere anned

from politics (Naraman and


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200= A=#& )n 387$ trade unions 'ere allo'ed to e estalished$ though 'ithout the

right to strike (Gargulies and Mldo1lu 348 =#&


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civil society organiations$ students$ academicians and civil servants 'ere prohiited

from political activity y the 342 constitution formed after the military intervention

(Gousseau 200= A07#& >n the other hand$ the 340 military intervention and its

aftermath 'ere not limited to coercive measures$ and this is often underestimated in

current deates& The scope and intensity of coercion again overshado's hegemonic

struggle on the terrain of civil society 'hich has een even accelerated since the 340s&

)n this conte+t$ the post%340 period in terms of civil society%state relations might e

etter interpreted 'ithin a ;ramscian perspective in comparison to the previous

periods$ since the salient use of force 'as increasingly replaced y ideological struggle

for hegemony& ttoman )slam$ Turkish popular culture % ased on

the re%evaluation of the state and nation as a family and community % and an emphasis

on the dangers of ideological fragmentation of not only the state and society ut also

the family (Mavu 337 =4#& The ne' Turkish%)slamic synthesis focused on )slam as a

conse@uence of the realiation that religion might control and constrain class politics

(:eper 33 83#& Camily$ mos@ue and military arracks ecame the privileged

institutions of the ne'ly introduced ideology* and A%d"nlar !ca*" [


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'ith the official ideology % and media (Mavu 337 =7%4# contriuted to the production

and reproduction of the ne' ideology in the domain of civil society& This interpretation

supports ;ramsci,s analysis that la' as 'ell as the education system and other

institutions ecome instruments of the state to estalish a ne' type of citien (;ramsci

37 28=#& n the one hand$ Turkish politics in the immediate post%340 period appears at

first sight to have een characteried y coercion$ ut on the other hand$ attempts at

forming consent did ecome more central through institutions and ideology& ;iven that

the military interventions and the -armour of coercion, proved to e inade@uate to

annihilate the assaults on political society$ hegemonic struggle might e argued to have

ecome more vital for the protection of the state& This certainly re@uires more struggle

on the site of civil society&

< ;ramscian interpretation of the relations et'een civil society and the state

highlights a numer of aspects of these relations in the Turkish case& Different periods

of repulican history since the early 320s reveal that the relations et'een the state

and civil society in Turkey have taken multiple forms& This also indicates that civil

society cannot e considered as a sphere or a monolithic unit that can e conceptualied


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only as opposed to the state& ather$ there are different political agencies in civil society

'hich respond to such constitutive principles as secularism and Turkishness in different

'ays& Cor those agencies 'hich challenge the constitutive repulican ideology$ civil

society ecomes a sphere opposed to the state$ an interpretation 'hich emphasies

coercion& >n the other hand$ civil society is a sphere in 'hich an attempt has een

made to constitute a ne' conception of society through education$ and the identification

of the nation as a family 'ith corresponding familial values& Thus civil society and state

have een in varying degrees of interaction from the early years of the repulic$ 'hich

makes it unrealistic to analye civil society and the state as separate entities in Turkey&

FROM !!"S TO TODAY: CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSIONS


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and /6duygu 200A 222%9* Kni and TLrem 200 37#& The Garmara earth@uakes of

333 in 'hich the state,s response remained slo' and the activities of civil society

organiations created confidence$ have een interpreted as promising for the further

development of civil society in Turkey (Nuicek 2008 7=* "ayraktar 2008 3#&

:o'ever$ the democratiing potential of civil society institutions might e argued to e

limited as participation in these organiations and their influence are still argued to e

trivial (Simek 2008 84#& Curthermore$ the level of politiciation is consideraly lo' as

eing politicied has een identified 'ith political pressure (Nuicek 2008 770#& )n the

post%340 period$ the characteristics of civil society organiations 'ere also

transformed&


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criterion is civil society%state relations$ in 'hich the organiations are categoried

according to their position relative to the state those articulated 'ith the state$ those

against the state and those that are formally autonomous from the state ut in

continuous contact 'ith it (n the one hand$ it is argued that these relations have een

more peaceful since the 330s$ 'hich is conceptualied as -reconciliation of the state

'ith the society, as it is illustrated in the participation of civil servants and military staff

in the activities and festivals 'hich are traditionally identified 'ith minorities such as

Ale#is (HacibektasCestival# and Nurds (He'ro# (Simek 2008 =4%=3#& Hon%political

activities organied y the military$ such as collective official registration of marriages$

free courses for university entrance e+ams$ and inviting children from underdeveloped

areas for holidays are also mentioned 'ithin this frame'ork (Demirel 2008 8A#& )t is

@uestionale ho'ever 'hether these activities are really concerned 'ith

-reconciliation$, or 'hether they represent rather a strategy to ecome hegemonic and

'in the consent of the minorities in the ;ramscian sense& >n the other hand$ it is argued

that the )slamist organiations are still under pressure$ and only those that identify

themselves openly 'ith Nemalism % such as the -


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allo'ed (Nuicek 2008 77#& This line of argument sees )slam as a ne' form of

counter%hegemonic politics (Tu1al 2002 49# and the support of the leftists and lierals

for theAKP$ in this conte+t$ is e+plained as the party has roots in civil society against

the state ureaucracy (Tu1al 2007 3#& )t is argued that the scope of civil society has

narro'ed since the 24 Ceruary 337 process (


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and dates ack as early as 3=3 (5aralan 333 8#& :o'ever$ such operations 'ithin

civil society might e claimed to have ecome more salient recently&

Crom a ;ramscian perspective$ this last line of interpretation is @uite important& )t

implies that state and civil society are in reality organically connected in Turkey$ oth

from the eginning and increasingly so since the 340s& !ven if military interventions

and military ultimatums reveal that force has een a part of the state$ it still needs to e

recognised that the ruling classes historically made some compromises in order to

ac@uire consent as early as 387$ 'hen the trade unions 'ere allo'ed to e estalished&

ince the 340s$ the dialectical relation et'een the state in the narro' sense and civil

society$ and the attempt of the ruling elite to ecome hegemonic are oth more

discernile&9>ne of the main difficulties 'ith the aove mentioned interpretations of

civil society and state relations is that most of them rely on an understanding 'hich

tends to see civil society and the state as separate& :o'ever$ the course 'hich these

relations have historically follo'ed indicates their mutual interactions and penetrations&

Gore importantly$ these interactions do not only flo' from the state to civil society in

the form of creating civil society organiations or reproducing values& There are also

civil society organiations 'hich interact 'ith the agencies 'ithin the sphere of

political society in an attempt to constitute the defining characteristics of Turkish

society& )nteractions et'een the trade unions and the ureaucracy and also allegedly

the military against an )slamist conception of society$ illustrate the comple+ 'e of

relations et'een civil society and the state& The civilian secularists % for instance those

around the


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meetings and rallies against the rise of political )slam& )slamists$ on the other hand$ have

relied more on civil society discourse especially since the 330s& During the 339

elections$.e3ah identified itself as the party of civil society (;Llalp 200 8A8#$ and

today$ as mentioned aove$ theAKPalso presents itself as the representative of Turkish

civil society& T(rban [veiling] rallies and religious%ased civil society organiations

such as !ZG2.-D.and0AZ120-D. indicate the institutional dimension of this

side&

ivil society in ;ramscian thinking$ ho'ever$ is not only seen as a sphere for

hegemony& ;ramsci formulates civil society in order to understand the comple+ 'e of

relations in advanced capitalist societies and to propose a strategy for a democratic

development to'ards socialism (assoon 342 0#& This aspect of ;ramscian civil

society is ackno'ledged y the political left 5uuk6u 333 92#& :o'ever$ in the

current situation it seems that conservatives$ )slamists and lierals understand etter the

potential of civil society to influence politics& .e3ah has organied in the

neighourhoods 'ith street representatives and created organic links 'ith various

associations and foundations (Mavu 337 77%4#& )f the starting point of a ne' counter%

hegemonic conception of order and society for the organic intellectuals is to e found in

the e+isting prolems$ eliefs$ values and culture of the society (Gorera 330 2=#$

)slam provides a @uite valuale asset for the )slamist intellectuals& Thus$ there are

multiple layers of civil society in Turkey in interaction 'ithin civil society$ 'hich also

influence the relations et'een civil society and the state&

CONCLUSION


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"y defining civil society as a sphere interacting 'ith the state$ ;ramsci provides us

'ith an analytical tool to understand po'er relations in terms of the interactions 'ithin

the layers of civil society and et'een civil society and the state& !ach interpretation of

contemporary civil society and state relations in Turkey indeed has some truth&

Hevertheless$ these perspectives overemphasie individual aspects& < ;ramscian

perspective$ on the other hand$ allo's us to interpret all these developments 'ithin one

frame'ork& eflecting on the different vie's discussed in this chapter$ these are all part

of the varying relations et'een the state and civil society$ ranging from opposition to

the state to support for the state$ and including$ more importantly$ relationships of

mutual interaction& )n this conte+t$ e+amples of the salient use of force do not sho' that

coercion is the only defining characteristic of the state tradition& >n the contrary$ they

only indicate that$ as ;ramsci argued$ coercion is the armour of the state& There has$ in

fact$ een a hegemonic struggle in Turkish civil society since the early repulican

period up until today& The relationship et'een civil society and state from this

perspective can not e conceptualied as a mere relation of opposition so that each

move from civil society 'ill e unconditionally democratiing& The )slamist civil

society organiations 'ith their strong criticism of the repulican secularism might

indicate opposition to the repulican state tradition$ yet )slam has ecome an aspect of

politics allo'ed in again y political society& Gore importantly$ the state does not use

only force$ ut holders of state po'er also penetrate into civil society through non%

governmental organiations& These interactions correspond to 'hat ;ramsci means y

arguing that -Vin actual reality civil society and the tate are one and the same,

(;ramsci 37 =0#&


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)n this conte+t$ this chapter has argued that a ;ramscian evaluation of the relations

et'een civil society and the state supplies us 'ith an approach 'hich goes eyond

analying Turkish politics as one of conflict et'een an allegedly coercive state and

civil society activities 'hich necessarily lead to democratiation& ather$ ;ramsci

provides us 'ith the crucial insight that civil society is a site of struggles et'een

competing conceptions of society& The activities of agencies in civil society are related

to the agencies in political society& Thus$ the direction of politics depends on the

outcome of the interactions et'een these competing vie's&


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NOTES


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Getin :eper is a distinguished scholar of Turkish politics$ kno'n for his pulications on Turkish state

tradition$ state%society and civil%military relations&

2Serif Gardin is one of the most prominent Turkish social scientists& :e is kno'n for his studies on the

late >ttoman period$ Moung Turks$ the relations et'een the Turkish repulic and the >ttoman past&A:ere$ Serif Gardin,s analysis of Turkish state and society is @uite important as Gardin,s 'orks on the

formation of civil society$ 'hich are provided at the iliography in full details$ are ackno'ledged as

seminal for the suse@uent studies on civil society in Turkey& Ga.ority of the later studies rely on his

interpretation&

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8 Hasret Dikici Bilgin Final Confirmed

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