İsmet İnönü : : the making of a Turkish statesman / / by Metin Heper.

• Superior document: Social, economic, and political studies of the Middle East and Asia ; Volume 62
• VerfasserIn: Heper, Metin,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, The Netherlands ;, Boston ;, Koln : : Brill,, [1998]; ©1998
• Year of Publication: 1998
• Language: English
• Series: Social, economic, and political studies of the Middle East and Asia ; Volume 62.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

This highly original study of a Turkish statesman can be read as an introduction into Turkish politics. In his very clearly written and stimulating political biography of İsmet İnönü, Metin Heper presents to the reader a highly motivated, self-reflecting and self-conscious political leader. İsmet İnönü played a critical role in the founding of the Turkish Republic, further promoting Westernization, and the transition to and the consolidation of democracy in Turkey. This volume is the first treatise on this remarkable statesman in any Western language. It challenges such orthodox views on İnönü as his having played second fiddle vis-a-vis Ataturk and his having been a power-hungry politician with an authoritarian bend of mind. It is suggested that İnönü complemented Ataturk, and that, over time, he adopted liberal political views while remaining a staunch guardian of the premises such as secularism upon which the Turkish Republic rested. It is also argued that if his compatriots had paid closer attention to İnönü, they would have a more liberal conception of democracy and, at the same time, in politics they would have acted more prudently.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / Metin Heper -- Preface and Acknowledgements / Metin Heper -- Chapter One A Neglected Statesman / Metin Heper -- Chapter Two A Self-Educated Man / Metin Heper -- Chapter Three Personality Characteristics / Metin Heper -- Chapter Four The State / Metin Heper -- Chapter Five Democracy / Metin Heper -- Chapter Six The Republicans in Power, 1923-1950 / Metin Heper -- Chapter Seven The Democrats' Era and the 1960 Military Intervention / Metin Heper -- Chapter Eight From Coalitions to the 1971-1973 Interregnum and its Aftermath / Metin Heper -- Chapter Nine An Odyssey in Solitude / Metin Heper -- Works Cited / Metin Heper -- Index / Metin Heper -- Illustrations / Metin Heper -- Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia / Metin Heper.