An analysis of the political ideology of Turkey's Justice and Development Party: Liberal Islam

As the world is captivated by the recent political upheaval in North Africa and the Middle East, many analysts have brought Turkey to the forefront of the political discussion:some observers see Turkey as a model for democracy in a Muslim society. Competing views have stirred significant debate about the nature of Turkish democracy and the relation between Islam and contemporary politics in Turkey and other majority Muslim countries. It is the aim of this paper to contribute to this conversation by evaluating and classifyingthe religious-political ideology of Turkey?s Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi ? AKP). To accomplish this, this paper constructs a conceptual frameworkfor `liberal Islamic? religious-political ideology and evaluates this model by analyzing whether or not, and in what manner, the Justice and Development Partydemonstrates or embodiesideological characteristics of `liberal Islam.? A comparison and contrast between a theoretical conception of `liberal Islamic? political ideology and the ideological positions and practice of the AKP serves two functions. The first aim is to define and elaborate the concept of a liberal Muslim political perspective. The second function of this comparison is to provide a detailed analysis of the AKP?s political ideology broken down issue by issue, thereby contributing to the contemporary analysis and scholarship on the AKP and Turkish politics.