Between state and society : association practices in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic

The Turkish Republic differs from other nation-states established in Islamic lands in the nature of the relationship between state and society. The Ottoman Empire was organized around a particular political culture based on a clear separation between those who held power(insiders) and those who were excluded from it(outsiders). In the classical age, only the ruling class, with more or less direct links to the Palace, participated in this political culture. In the post-Classical age, the central government opened up access to this political culture to other social groups: local elites and provincial militias . After the founding of the Republic, the political culture thus inherited from the Ottoman Empire continued to play an important role in supporting the political projects of the nation-state, under both the single-party and multi-party systems. The same political culture then underpinned the conflict between the Islamists and the Kemalists. Both camps simply maintained the separation between insiders and outsiders, with all its contradictions, whether in their relationship with the authority of the Constitution or in their acceptance of the equality of all before the law.