This work deals with the broad topic of “Politcal Power beyond the State” and shows with the particular example of the Fethullah Gülen movement in Turkey how a non-state actor takes political power beyond the nation-state and slowly but surely transforms the identity of the Turkish Republic.
A motivation to work on Fethullah Gülen as a political power beyond the state is the fact that Gülen in a survey of the British magazine on Foreign Policy in 2008 surprisingly was voted to be the most public intellectual in the world
This paper will try to evaluate how a single person could become that influential during the last decades that he is supposed to be one of the leading forces within the Turkish state at the beginning of the 21st century. What aims follows the person whose name is associated with a media empire, with business enterprises and especially a huge education network in Turkey and worldwide?
While writing this paper the author assumes that the Fethullah Gülen movement of today is already a political power beyond the Turkish nation-state which influences the economy, media, politics and education sustainable in an immense radius according to its own interests. Therefore, the main focus of this work will be to take a brief look at the motivations, origins and goals of the movement in regard of its activity in the educational sphere.
In summary, as a starting point for this paper and a general research question serves the demand: Is the Fethullah Gülen Movement just ´a´ force beyond the Turkish state, or meanwhile through its strong educational network even ´THE´ force beyond the Turkish Republic? As a matter of fact that this a term paper and not a thesis the author will concentrate especially on the movement’s educational engagement while claiming that it can be seen as the key for the community-transforming network.
After a brief introduction into the life of Fethullah Gülen, his main point of views and convictions will be examined. In a further step the educational network of the movement and its major fields of activity will be highlighted. Afterwards, the characteristics of the movement as a power beyond the state will be explained to finally come to a conclusion in Chapter Five.
Regarding the literature the author concentrates mainly on works from M. Hakan Yavuz, who is one of the main researches on political Islam in Turkey and Islamic inspired movements like Fethullah Gülen.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Where does the Fethullah Gülen movement have its origins?
- An approach to understand Turkey´s influential non-state actor
III. Knowledge is power:
Education as the key of the Fethullah Gülen movement
IV. “A radical consequence of modernity”:
The Fethullah Gülen movement as a Political Power Beyond the Turkish nation-state
V. Conclusion
Research Objectives & Key Themes
The primary objective of this term paper is to analyze the Fethullah Gülen movement as a influential non-state actor and to investigate how this movement, rooted in spiritual ideas, exerts political power beyond the Turkish nation-state while transforming the identity of the Turkish Republic.
- The historical origins and evolution of the Fethullah Gülen movement.
- The significance of education and knowledge as the core strategic pillars of the movement.
- The intersection of Islamic values, science, and the construction of a "Golden Generation".
- The movement's influence on the Turkish state through media, economy, and educational networks.
- The theoretical implications of non-state actors in a globalized, modern world.
Excerpt from the book
III.Knowledge is power:
“The one who has knowledge is useful, the one who does not have knowledge is harmful” (Yavuz; Esposito: Turkish Islam and the Secular State. The Gülen Movement. Page 62), this sentence sounds harsh and irritating first but shows very impressively which ideas lie at the ground of the Fethullah Gülen movement. The above quoted sentence comes from Gülen himself and demonstrates which ideology his movement pursues: only people with knowledge are seen as precious whereas people without knowledge are considered as kind of useless, needless and even harmful to the strategy the movement aims at. The statement also exemplifies in a very clear manner that knowledge and therefore education can be seen as the heart of the movement´s efforts. These efforts in turn again were made clear by Gülen himself. One of the main goals of the movement is to establish a “new generation armed with the tools of science and religion: a `new man´ will emerge, that will not only participate in, but even shape modernity” (Yavuz; Esposito: Turkish Islam and the Secular State. The Gülen Movement. Page 57).
This megalomaniac sounding sentence demonstrates the paramount goal of the Gülen movement, namely to transform the society in a long perspective and to raise a young generation that unites religion and knowledge to rule future key positions in economy, media and politics. The amalgamation “of science and religion” leads back to the teachings of the spiritual origin of the movement, Said Nursi and his Nurculuk movement.
Summary of Chapters
I. Introduction: This chapter introduces the research topic regarding the Fethullah Gülen movement as a political force and establishes the core research question concerning its influence beyond the Turkish nation-state.
II. Where does the Fethullah Gülen movement have its origins?: This section explores the historical emergence of the movement, focusing on Fethullah Gülen's background and the socio-political climate in Turkey following the 1980 military intervention.
III. Knowledge is power:: This chapter analyzes the central role of the educational network as a strategy to train a "Golden Generation" capable of influencing future societal structures.
IV. “A radical consequence of modernity”:: This part evaluates the movement as a non-state actor in a globalized world, examining its media and economic reach and its impact on the Turkish state.
V. Conclusion: The final chapter summarizes the movement's strategy, noting its lack of a formal hierarchy and its long-term objective to shape society from the bottom up.
Keywords
Fethullah Gülen, Turkey, non-state actor, political power, education, Golden Generation, modernization, Islamic values, civil society, Nurculuk, Said Nursi, Turkish-Islamic Synthesis, secular state, globalization.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this academic paper?
The paper examines the Fethullah Gülen movement as a non-state actor and analyzes how it exercises political influence beyond the traditional boundaries of the Turkish nation-state.
What are the central themes discussed in the work?
The central themes include the historical origins of the movement, the strategic importance of educational institutions, the ideological fusion of Islam and science, and the influence of the movement's media and economic wings.
What is the main research question of this study?
The author asks whether the Fethullah Gülen movement is merely a force among others or whether its extensive educational network has made it the primary force shaping the future of the Turkish Republic.
Which methodology is employed in this research?
This is a term paper based on qualitative analysis of academic literature, primarily relying on the works of M. Hakan Yavuz, alongside insights from online media and political discourse regarding the movement.
What does the author identify as the heart of the movement's strategy?
The author identifies the education of citizens as the primary strategic core, aiming to create a new elite that combines Islamic values with modern scientific knowledge.
How is the movement characterized in terms of its organizational structure?
The paper describes the movement as a complex, opaque system of networks without a formal membership structure or visible hierarchy, functioning as a "casual fusion" of followers.
What role did the 1980 military intervention play for the movement?
The author argues that the military-led introduction of the Turkish-Islamic Synthesis provided the space for the movement to emerge and establish its widespread educational empire.
How does the author explain the movement's success in Central Asia and the Balkans?
The author suggests that the movement utilizes the historical memory of the Ottoman Empire in these regions to establish connections and influence the younger generation through their educational institutions.
- Quote paper
- Thomas Volk (Author), 2010, A radical consequence of modernity, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/153818
