For the last century, the Western world has regarded Turkey as a pivotal case of the 'clash of civilisations' between Islam and the West. Why Turkey is Authoritarian offers a radical challenge to this conventional narrative. Halil Karaveli highlights the danger in viewing events in Turkey as a war between a 'westernising' state and the popular masses defending their culture and religion, arguing instead for a class analysis that is largely ignored in the Turkish context. This book goes beyond cultural categories that overshadow more complex realities when thinking about the 'Muslim world', while highlighting the ways in which these cultural prejudices have informed ideological positions. Karaveli argues that Turkey's culture and identity have disabled the Left, which has largely been unable to transcend these divisions. This book asks the crucial question: why does democracy continue to elude Turkey? Ultimately, Karaveli argues that Turkish history is instructive for a left that faces the global challenge of a rising populist right, which succeeds in mobilising culture and identity to its own purposes. Informative, authoritative, and reliable, Karaveli's analysis of Turkish politics should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand Turkey's relentless retreat from democracy.

上个世纪，西方世界一直将土耳其视为伊斯兰教与西方之间 "文明冲突 "的关键案例。土耳其为什么是独裁的》对这一传统叙事提出了激进的挑战。哈利勒-卡拉维利强调了将土耳其的事件视为 "西化 "国家与捍卫其文化和宗教的大众之间的战争的危险性，相反，他主张进行阶级分析，而这种分析在土耳其的背景下基本上被忽略了。本书超越了在思考 "穆斯林世界 "时掩盖了更复杂的现实的文化范畴，同时强调了这些文化偏见为意识形态立场提供的方式。卡拉维利认为，土耳其的文化和身份使左派失去了能力，左派在很大程度上无法超越这些分歧。本书提出了一个关键的问题：为什么民主继续与土耳其无缘？最后，卡拉维利认为，土耳其的历史对面临民粹主义右派崛起的全球挑战的左派来说是有启发的，因为他们成功地调动了文化和身份来达到自己的目的。卡拉维利对土耳其政治的分析翔实、权威、可靠，应该成为任何想了解土耳其从民主中无情退却的人的必读之作。