Guardianship and Democracy in Iran and Turkey - Edinburgh Studies on Modern Turkey by Karabekir Akkoyunlu Paperback

About the Book

A comparative analysis of the political consolidation and popular contestation of regime guardianship in Turkey and the Islamic Republic of Iran

Book Synopsis

This book offers the first comparative study of the foundations, consolidation and contestation of regime guardianship in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Turkey. For decades, the military in Turkey and the clergy in Iran acted as the guardians of Atatürk and Khomeini's ideological legacies. At the turn of the 21st century rising popular actors in both countries started challenging the tutelary control of the state and society. While in Turkey the clash between the Kemalist guardians and their Islamist-led rivals resulted in a victory for the latter, although not for democracy, in Iran, traditionalist guardians were able to thwart popular challenges to their authority at the expense of the regime's democratic legitimacy. How was guardianship established, consolidated and contested in these republics with seemingly inimical founding ideologies? Why did it unravel in Turkey but survive in the Islamic Republic in the early 2010s? And what do these power struggles and their outcomes tell us about political contestation in tutelary hybrid regimes?

Review Quotes

Drawing upon an impressive range of empirical data and employing a multidisciplinary methodology, Akkoyunlu crafts a nuanced narrative of institutional persistence and erosion under varying domestic and international pressures.--Nikos Christofis "Diyâr, Journal for Ottoman Studies, Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies"

By using the concept of guardianship, this subtle and original book provides unique insights into contemporary Iranian and Turkish politics. It reveals the logic but also the fragility of hybrid regimes that divide power and sovereignty between 'the people' and elite guardians tasked with preserving the polity's core values.--Dominic Lieven, Trinity College, Cambridge

This thought-provoking book is a valuable scholarly and intellectual contribution to modern Turkey and Iran Studies as well as comparative political regime theories.--Murat Somer, Özyeğin University