Search results

In the long course of human evolution and political experimentation, liberal democracy, especially after the events of 1989, has come to be seen as the best political system. In fact, we seemed to have reached the only system compatible with liberty, after the dreadful experiences of Communist and Nazi totalitarianism, and its twin in the economic realm - capitalism. But is liberalism really conducive to freedom? I argue that evil - or totalitarianism - arises from the combination of both the Platonic and Augustinian views: ignorance of values and the pursuit of one's egotistic desires. Evil has an essentially private nature. In this sense, totalitarianism may arise from a utilitarian culture that sees people - or some forms of knowledge - as worthless and disposable objects.

In May 2013, a small group of protesters made camp in Istanbul's Taksim Square, protesting the privatisation of what had long been a vibrant public space. When the police responded to the demonstration with brutality, the protests exploded in size and force, quickly becoming a massive statement of opposition to the Turkish regime. This book assembles a collection of field research, data, theoretical analyses, and cross-country comparisons to show the significance of the protests both within Turkey and throughout the world. [Publisher's text]

Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- List of Acronyms -- Introduction -- Gezi in Retrospect -- Isabel David and Kumru F. Toktamış -- Bibliography -- Section I - Gezi Protests and Democratisation -- 1. Evoking and Invoking Nationhood as Contentious Democratisation -- Kumru F. Toktamış -- 2007 - Nation-Evoking Demonstrations -- Gezi - Summer 2013 -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 2. 'Everyday I'm Çapulling!' -- Global Flows and Local Frictions of Gezi -- Jeremy F. Walton -- Introduction: Gezi and Rumi's Elephant in the Dark -- The Politics of Public Space in Urban Turkey: Taksim Square, Proscenium of the Nation -- The Carnivalesque Citizenship of the Çapulcu -- Gezi and the Discontents of Neoliberal Globalisation -- Conclusion: Gezi and the Decoupling of Liberalism and Democracy in Turkey -- Bibliography -- 3. The Incentives and Actors of Protests in Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2013 -- Ana Dević and Marija Krstić -- Introduction -- Turkish Case: Political Change and Gezi Park Protests -- The Common Denominator of the Protests in Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Section II - The Political Economy of Protests -- 4. AKP Rule in the Aftermath of the Gezi Protests -- From Expanded to Limited Hegemony? -- Umut Bozkurt -- Understanding the AKP's Hegemony -- Neoliberal Populism and the AKP Rule -- The Explosion of Social Assistance Programmes -- The Symbolic/Ideological Sources of the Party's Hegemony -- The AKP's Hegemony after the Gezi Protests -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 5. Rebelling against Neoliberal Populist Regimes -- Barış Alp Özden and Ahmet Bekmen -- Neoliberal Populism, AKP and PT -- Depoliticising the Question of Poverty -- Deradicalising Labour -- Preliminary Reflections on the Protests -- Bibliography -- 6. Enough is Enough

In May 2013, a small group of protesters made camp in Istanbul's Taksim Square, protesting the privatisation of what had long been a vibrant public space. When the police responded to the demonstration with brutality, the protests exploded in size and force, quickly becoming a massive statement of opposition to the Turkish regime. This book assembles a collection of field research, data, theoretical analyses, and cross-country comparisons to show the significance of the protests both within Turkey and throughout the world.

Ecological Solidarity and the Kurdish Freedom Movement: Thought, Practice, Challenges, and Opportunities examines Kurdish ecological politics and its modeling of communalism and environmental justice, which offer important insights into democratic renewal and women's liberation for the West.