POLITICAL SCIENCE IN TURKEY. Ilter Turan Istanbul Bilgi University. The Origins of Political Studies

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1 POLITICAL SCIENCE IN TURKEY Ilter Turan Istanbul Bilgi University The Origins of Political Studies As in the case of many other countries with a long history, the needs of governments to address problems confronting society has constituted a major driving force behind the development of political studies first in the Ottoman Empire and later in the Turkish Republic. After military defeat in the hands of European powers became commonplace during the 19 th Century, the Sultan s government initiated a policy of modernization first in the military domain, then in others including public administration. In 1859, the School of Public Service (Mulkiye) was opened in Istanbul, then the capital, to train model civil servants to staff the national administration. A document justifying the opening of the school complained that subprovincial and county governors are devoid of information pertaining to public administration and are almost incapable comprehending the orders which they are sent, adding that their lack of familiarity with foreign languages also made them ineffectual in dealing with the intrusion of foreign officers inflicting harm on the people. 1 The Mulkiye was succeeded by a School of Law in Both were inspired by French models and designed to train civil servants. 2 Much of the curricula were borrowed from France. Scholarly research was not a primary concern. Mulkiye epanded over the years as its program got more refined. In 1913, for eample, it began to offer specialization not only in public administration but also in the fields of diplomacy and public finance. 3 These schools were not oriented toward research and publishing although the need of tetbooks inevitably encouraged some elementary writing. Nevertheless, the Mulkiye has grown in size, content and sophistication over time, eventually transforming itself into the celebrated Faculty of Political Science of Ankara University in Since then, it has gradually evolved into a center for political research in addition performing its original but declining function of training civil servants.. 1 Osman Ergin, Türk Maarif Tarihi vol. 1-2 (Istanbul: Eser Neşriyat, 1977), p Though opening earlier than the Mulkiye, the institution was influenced much influenced in later years by the Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques established in Paris in See Bogac Erozan and Ilter Turan, The Development of Political Science in Turkey, Political Science, April 2004, p Osman Ergin, op. cit, p

2 A central concern of the Ottoman elites was How can we save the declining empire? The question had corollaries such as what ideology could hold the empire together, how should the government be organized and whether western political institutions should be adopted? The various and contradictory answers given to these questions produced a literature that dealt both with questions of political philosophy and comparative politics. 4 The search for an ideology of integration resulted in rival theses of Ottomanism, pan-islamism and pan-turkism. The search for a proper system of rule, on the other hand, led to discussions of constitutionalism and parliamentary government as well as the foundations of political legitimacy. Soldiers and bureaucrats that were products of the new schools often felt that rapid progress was impeded by the absolute monarch. The Sultan, on the other hand, though in need of new schools to save his empire, was in no mood to share his power. The ensuing political debate during the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries was important in shaping the political ideas and institutions of the republic. Prominent themes of the debate included a popularly based regime, nationalism, republicanism and laicism. The Growth of Political Science as an Academic Discipline An eamination of the tetbooks used in Mulkiye reveals that instructors were well aware of the idea of a science of politics. A law tet by Babanzade Ismail Hakki in 1910, for eample, contains references to science of politics. 5 But Evidence suggests professors knew not just about the French concept of science politique but also the German concepts of Staatslehre and Staatswissenschaft. The Ottoman professors were also familiar with the Allgemeine Staatslehre literature, especially with the work of Johan Kaspar Bluntshcli. 6 In the initial years of the republic, the Mulkiye was dedicated to training loyal republican elites; academic questions were not high on its agenda. Nevertheless, there was a gradual evolution of a discourse on political science. The Mulkiye started publishing an academic journal in Renamed The Journal of Political Sciences in 1935 as part of a language reform aiming at Turkification, the journal contained occasional articles referring, on the one hand, to the need for a science of politics to develop further and, on the other, to the inadequacy of the scientific stature and independence of political science. 7 4 The political philosophy literature of the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth are eamined in Serif Mardin, The Genersis of Young Ottoman Thought (Princeton: Princeton University Pres, 19 ) and Jon Turklerin Siyasi Fikirleri (Istanbul: Iletisim, 1983) 5 Bogac Erozan and Ilter Turan, loc. cit. 6 Idem. 7 Ibid, p

3 It is after the transition to democracy that writings that could properly be construed as being in the domain of contemporary political science began to flourish. The first book on Turkish political parties appeared in The author, a professor of constitutional law at Istanbul University, staunchly defended the recognition of political science as an independent scholarly discipline, reinforcing his arguments by references to the organization of political science in France under the leadership of Maurice Duverger. In Ankara, on the other hand, Nermin Abadan (later Unat) concentrated her efforts on popularizing the new discipline by publishing a study on the comparative development of political science in the United States, Britain, Germany and France. 9 After the mid-1960s the number of books and articles in political science began to epand. Initially these were published by the academic institutions themselves with the Ankara Faculty of Political Science leading the way and the Faculty of Economics of Istanbul University following. Soon, however, commercial publishers also took an interest in publishing political science books. Some of these had a market potential as tetbooks while others proved to be of interest to lay readers in a society increasingly characterized by citizen involvement in politics. As has been argued by Easton et al., the growth and recognition of political science as a separate domain of academic activity appears to be inetricably linked with the growth of political democracy in Turkey 10 as well as the epansion of the system of higher education to meet the growing demand by post-world War II generations. Institutional Developments The two major educational institutions offering education related to political science which the republic inherited were the Mulkiye and the Law School in Istanbul. In 1935, it was decided to move the Mulkiye to Ankara. 11 It constituted one of the building blocs of Ankara University first as the School and later as the Faculty of Political Science (FPS). Even after if became a part of the university, however, FPS continued in large part to maintain its nature as a professional school. Its curriculum, like that of the Law School, contained public law, constitutional law, administrative law and philosophy of law as topics of relevance to political science. Political science programs also contained a variety of other courses depending on the choice of specialization of the student. 8 Tarık Zafer Tunaya, Turkıye de Sıyası Partıler (Istanbul: Dogan Kardes, 1960). An elementary book on political arties had appeared as early as 1946 but did not contain references to Turkey. Cf. Niyazi Berkes, Siyasi Partiler ( Istanbul: Yurt ve Dunya) 9 Nermin Abadan, Siyasi Ilimlerde Gelisin Egilimleri: Birlesik Amerika, Ingiltere, Bati Almanyave Fransa daki Calismalarin Mukayeseli Incelenmesi, Ankara Universitesi, Siyasal Bilgiler Fakultesi Dergisi, Eylul-Aralik 1962, pp David Easton, John G. Gunnell and Michael B. Stein, eds., Regime and Discipline: Democracy and the Development of Political Science (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1995) 11 Ali Mucellitoglu Cankaya,,Mulkiye Tarihi ve Mulkiyeliler (Ankara: Siyasal Bilgiler Fakultesi: 1954), p. 34 3

4 The FPS enjoyed an academic monopoly in the field until 1956 when the Middle East Technical University was opened in Ankara. Within its Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, the new institution had a Department of Public Administration. In contrast to the legal orientation of the FPS, the new department was modeled after American institutions, with a more behavioral and managerial orientation. Then in 1961, a department of Political Science was also opened in the Faculty of Economics of Istanbul University. Its program, in contrast to the FPS, incorporated more economics, international relations and less law and appeared to be more in the nature of a liberal arts program than one of a professional school. Finally, in 1973, Robert College, an American institution of higher learning was turned over to the Turkish government and became Bogazici University. The university established a department of Political Science by epanding the small group of political scientists it had inherited from the college and began to offer a liberal arts degree in the field. While the Turkish university system had begun to epand from 1950 on, political science and related programs initially registered limited growth as summarized in the preceding paragraph. This was in part an outcome of the development of the university system at a moderate pace and in part the preference for epansion in other fields than political science. Then, during the military intervention, the National Security Council, aiming for the overall epansion of the higher educational system and its tighter control, created a Council of Higher Education. Under this new administrative system, a system-wide university model was developed. The commanders had a clear-cut aversion to liberal arts programs and a preference for professional training. Accordingly, the Council on Higher Education determined that there would be no Political Science departments at universities but separate departments of Public Administration and International Relations which, along with departments of Economics and Business Administration, would be located at the Faculties of Economics and Administrative Sciences. With minor eceptions, the model continues to apply today. Undergraduate Programs With intensifying demand for higher education that they eperience difficulty in meeting and with the rather rapid epansion of the university system only recently, Turkish universities tend to devote most of their resources and energies to undergraduate training. Some universities have both departments of Public Administration and International Relations, but more typical is to have 4

5 one or the other while professing intentions to epand in the future. With the restoration of civilian rule in 1983, the programs and curricula of these departments have become more varied and they have moved away from a Table I Undergraduate Programs in Political Science at Turkish Universities* Public Administration** International Both Areas**** Relations*** Aksaray (50) Atılım (110) Abant I. Baysal (210) Anadolu (open) Başkent (65) Adnan Menderes (160) Atatürk (30) Beykent (45) Akdeniz (110) Balıkesir (50) Boğaziçi (80) Ankara (160) Bilecik (160) Bahçeşehir (90) Bilkent (350) Cumhuriyet (110) Çağ (80) Çanakkale (240) Dumlupınar (250) Çankaya (80) Dokuz Eylül (170) Gaziosmanpaşa (120) Doğuş (50) Fatih (127) Hitit (70) Ege (120) Galatasaray (40) İnönü (110) İstanbul Kültür (50) Gazi (340) Kafkas (100) İstanbul Ticaret (60) Hacettepe (100) K.Maraş Sütçü İmam (130) İzmir Ekonomi (100) İstanbul (320) Karamanoğlu M.B. (220) Kadir Has (36) İstanbul Bilgi (265) Mersin (50) Koç (84) Karadeniz Teknik (100) Muğla (180) Maltepe (50) Kırıkkale (220) Mustafa Kemal (110) Okan (82) Kocaeli (290) Niğde (50) Osmangazi (30) Marmara (150) Pamukkale (120) TOBB E ve T (180) ODTÜ (180) Süleyman Demirel (180) Yildiz (60) Sakarya (210) Uşak (120) Selçuk (360) Trakya (140) Uludağ (380) Yeditepe (210) N= 2210+open *The list has been compiled by the author from the university admission test guide for Sabancı and Işık universities are ecluded because they do not use a system of departmental admission. Open university is included. Erciyes University has also been ecluded since it is supposed to start accepting students only in the academic year. The figures in parentheses were numbers to be admitted in the academic year. **Departments named public administration or political science and public administration ***Department of international relations; political science and international relations; European Studies; and international relations and European Union Studies ****Separate programs for public administration and international relations. 5

6 strictly professional degree. Furthermore, as Turkey s has become a candidate for membership in the European Union and commenced with accession negotiations, some universities have introduced undergraduate level European Studies programs in recent years. These are usually run by the political scienceinternational relations departments and much of the curriculum is comprised of courses that are offered by political scientists. Today, as Table I shows, many universities offer some undergraduate program that come under the umbrella of political science. The first year admissions reach nearly 8500 students. Noting that this is a four year curriculum and that there are students who take up to seven years to complete the four year curriculum, there is a high probability that there are more than forty thousand students who are enrolled in some kind of political science-international relations program at Turkish universities at the time of this writing. Graduate programs The growth of graduate programs in Political Science during the recent years has been a natural outcome of the initial proliferation of undergraduate programs. Earlier, in the pre-1980 period, the few institutions that offered undergraduate training in Political Science usually also offered Ph. D. programs. The preference for a doctoral program derived from the fact that while general demand for graduate training was lacking, the law mandated that members of faculty hold doctorates. The outcome was the devising of Ph.D. programs designed mainly to cater to the needs of the eisting academic institutions. Students of graduate programs were mostly graduate assistants who planned to continue as faculty members at the same institution. Other students included recent graduates who hoped they might be hired as graduate assistants or bureaucrats of all ranks to whom a graduate degree would bring at minimum a salary increase and possibly also a promotion. The epansion of the university system, the inability of the newly opened universities to commence with graduate programs right away, the desire of the graduates of less prestigious institutions to enhance their esteem by adding a graduate degree from a more prestigious institution, the enhanced demand for better and longer trained people as a result of the epansion and growing sophistication of the Turkish economy, the epectation that a graduate degree might enhance the employment potential of the individual in an environment where finding good jobs has been getting more difficult, the postponement of compulsory military service for male students, the idea that one should not sit 6

7 idly but do things as one is looking around for a job and a host of other reasons, have generated new pressures for the epansion of graduate programs. Since many of the reasons accounting for the demand for graduate programs has not been strictly academic, the introduction of Master s programs has proven more popular than Ph.D. programs. Furthermore, the Council on Higher Education has been stricter in authorizing the initiation of Ph. D. programs, turning away petitions from ill prepared institutions. Table II lists the Master s and Table III Doctoral programs ran by Turkish universities in the academic year Table II M.A. Programs in Political Science and Related Fields in Turkey Name of University PolSci M.P.A. IR EU Other Abant Izzet Baysal Akdeniz Ankara (1) Balikesir Bogazici (2) Cumhuriyet Canakkale Dokuz Eylul Dumlupinar Ege Galatasaray Gazi Gaziosmanpasa Hacettepe Inonu Istanbul Kahramanmaras Sutuc Imam Karadeniz Teknik Kirikkale Kocaeli (3) Marmara (4) Mersin (1) Nigde 7

8 Table II (continued) Name of University PolSci M.P.A. IR EU Other Orta Dogu Teknik (5) Pamukkale Sakarya Suleyman Demirel Trakya Uludag Yildiz Teknik (2) Atilim (5) Bahcesehir Beykent Bilkent Dogus Fatih Isik (6) Istanbul Bilgi Istanbul Kultur Izmir Ekonomi Kadir Has Koc Okan Sabanci Ufuk Yeditepe (2) N of programs (1) Urban and Environmental Studies (2) A combined Political Science and International Relations program (3) A combined Political Science and Public Administration program (4) Marmara University has another IR program in English, a Public Administration program in French and then a Local Administration and Government program in Turkish as well as an additional Political Science program in French (5) A combined Political Science and Public Administration Program (6) Middle Eastern Studies program The table has been compiled by the author. The list of programs have been obtained form the internet by Zeynep Kotevoglu. 8

9 Table II, reflecting the basic organizational scheme of the discipline at Turkish universities, shows that the M.A. in International Relations is the most popular program, to be followed by the M.A. in Public Administration. Political Science M.A. programs, not perceived as offering a professional degree come last, even after European Studies programs which are probably seen as offering a more useful skill in the search for jobs. The number of institutions that offer Political Science and related doctoral programs, on the other hand, is far fewer as can be traced from Table III. In order to strengthen eisting Ph.D. Programs and to supply new universities with better trained faculty, the Council on Higher Education has encouraged new institutions to send their graduate assistants to the already operating Ph. D. programs and has made scholarships available for that purpose. This is in addition to those that it sends abroad for graduate training Table III A Doctoral Programs in Political Science and Related Fields in Turkey Name of university PS PA IR PS+IR PS+PA EU Inonu Istanbul Kocaeli Kirikkale Orta Dogu Teknik Marmara Sakarya Uludag Bilkent Istanbul Bilgi Sabanci Yeditepe The table has been prepared by the author on data collected from the internet by Zeynep Kotevoglu 9

10 Table III B Number of Students in Graduate Programs in * Master s Ph.D.s Public Administration International Relations European Studies * The figures have kindly been provided by Turgut Kilic, the Secretary General of the Council on Higher Education. The combinations used in earlier tables have been consolidated into three categories of PA, IR and European Studies. The EU programs, come under no less than si names. Research Centers and Think Tanks The study of politics in contemporary times is not confined to individual scholars at academic institutions doing research on their own. Government agencies, decision makers and private actors need information to formulate goals, policies and to evaluate them. The mass publics are also interested in the findings of political research, especially opinion polls. The proliferation of such institutions in Turkey is of recent vintage. Their evolution has had to wait the epansion of the university system itself, the emergence of greater need by the government and the private sector for information and knowledge generated by research as well as the growing availability of private and public funding for such activity. Two of the earlier foundations that promoted policy research and organized conferences were Turkish Foreign Policy Institute and the Economic and Social Studies Conference Board. The Foreign Policy Institute was established in 1974 by an Ankara businessman who was interested in such questions. 12 The opening of the institute was welcome by the Foreign Ministry since there was now a non-governmental organization to which foreign foundations could be referred for joint activity. The Institute published a journal and organized conferences bringing diplomats, politicians and academics together. After a modest eistence on its own resources, it sought the hospitality of a university, moving its headquarters first to Hacettepe and later to Bilkent University where it is currently located. It continues to organize conferences and to publish its journal. It puts out a monthly internet newsletter about the activities of the Council of Europe with which it has a special arrangement. It occasionally publishes books pertaining to Turkish foreign policy. The Conference Board, on the other hand, was established by a civic minded Istanbul 12 For more information,see 10

11 businessman who was interested in stimulating informed policy debate. After his death, a foundation bearing the same name (Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation or TESEV) was established in 1994 to serve as an independent think tank, forming a bridge between academic research and the policy making process. 13 Cooperating with similar foundations abroad, it has contracted research on corruption, transparency and accountability in government, state reform as well as on questions of foreign policy. Its recent research reports on some of the critical issues facing Turkish society such as the democratic control of security forces and relations between religion and the state have generated wide interest and debate. Its contract research is done by respected academics and displays high standards. The Foreign Policy Institute and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation represent two early eamples of institutions whose numbers have multiplied during the recent years. A substantial number of these organizations operate in the domain of foreign policy studies and international relations. One of the largest of these organizations is the Eurasian Strategic Research Center or ASAM. The center, established by the Eurasian Foundation in 1999, 14 retains a number of eperts that specialize in countries that come under Eurasian designation such as Russia, the countries of the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. It publishes a monthly journal called Stratejik Analiz (Strategic Analysis) and several books a year. It issues daily reports on the domestic and eternal politics of the countries that it covers. Multifarious organizations pursuing similar activities, if not at the same scale, have been established in recent years. Government agencies have followed suit. The Foreign Ministry has established its own independent think tank, the Strategic Research Center (SAM), and etends support to the Istanbul based Center for the Study of the Middle East and the Balkans. Though fewer in numbers, there are also organizations and foundations whose activities have involved domestic and sometimes comparative political research. The Turkish Economical and Political Research Foundation (TESAV) in Ankara, for eample, is noted for its studies of elections and electoral laws. Turkish Social, Economic and Political Research Foundation (TÜSES) in Istanbul, social democratic in orientation, has published some ecellent studies of voting behavior. Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen s Association, a lobby for big business, has commissioned a number of studies for government and constitutional reform. The Ankara based Turkish Economical and Political Research Foundation (TEPAV) recently established by the Union of the 13 visited on February 10, visited on February 10,

12 Chambers of Industry, Commerce and Commodity Echanges, has been working on government and constitutional reform. The Union is also behind the Economic Development Foundation which studies and promotes Turkey s linkage with the European Union. Politics, in addition to economics, is generously covered in its commissioned research and publications. Indications are that foundations, centers and associations, some publicly, many privately funded will continue to grow. It should be added that universities have also established research centers to promote, among others, political research. To cite eamples, Sabanci University has an Istanbul Policy Center which is active in promoting studies on matters of public policy. Istanbul Bilgi University has a European Union Studies Center that also focuses on the political dimension of Turkey s relationship with the European Union. Beykent University in Istanbul has a Strategic Research Center. Numerous other university affiliated research centers are also active at various levels of intensity. Professional Organizations The first professional organization of political science was started at the Faculty of Political Science of Ankara University in There being no other major center of political science at the time, it bought together scholars interested in the study of politics at that faculty and the neighboring Faculty of Law. Almost none of the founders were conventional political scientists, but came from diverse disciplines such as public law, economics and public finance. In the absence of pressing needs to form an association at the time, one may speculate that the organizational effort may have received a stimulus by the desire of its founder to have a Turkish Association that would link up with the International Political Science Association. 16 The association in its early years has contributed in an important way to the study of politics in Turkey. With the so-called counterpart funds that were made available by the United States Information Agency (later Service), between its founding and the mid-1980s, the TPSA organized a major effort to have some of the major works in the English language translated into Turkish. These included S.M. Lipset s The Political Man, George Sabine s History of Political Thought, Karl Popper s Open Society and its Enemies, several sections of the Handbook of Political Science as well as others. In 1984, in cooperation with the Turkish Democracy Foundation, the association also published in English an edited volume entitled Perspectives on Democracy in Turkey. 15 For a somewhat more elaborate account of the history of the TPSA, consult Ilter Turan, Turkish Political Science Association, Participation... Bogac Erozan and Ilter Turan, op. cit. 16 The founder had become familiar with IPSA in Berlin during a visiting professorship there in

13 The military governments of Turkey during , in their efforts to defuse the polarization of Turkish society along right wing-left wing lines and to bring under control civil disorders often accompanied by violence, introduced severe restrictions and controls on associational life. These paralyzed all associations, the TPSA not ecepted. As described earlier, however, during the same period, there was also a considerable epansion of the Turkish higher educational system including public administration and international relations. A scholarship program initiated by the Council on Higher Education to train young Ph.D s abroad to staff the universities also injected some well trained and highly motivated young scholars into the community. Beginning with mid-1980 s, Ankara s stature as the major center for political science was gradually overtaken by Istanbul. Some state institutions in the city developed new departments while a majority of the new private institutions of higher learning were opened there. In 2001, at an etraordinary meeting of the general assembly of the association, a decision was made to move its headquarters to Istanbul. The association is currently housed at Istanbul Bilgi University. Starting in 2003, the association has organized an annual National Graduate Student Political Science Convention. In August 2006, it has hosted the First World International Studies Conference. Its current membership stands at around 150 and is slowly epanding. The TPSA has been an active member of IPSA since Its founder has served as a member of IPSA s Eecutive Committee. Three other Turkish scholars, including this author, have also had the privilege of serving on the same organ in later years. In 2006, some scholars in Ankara have led the way in founding the International Studies Association of Turkey. Located at the TOBB University of Economics and Technology and supported by the institution, TISA has begun to publish a quarterly Uluslararası Ilişkiler (International Relations) and organize annual thematic national meetings. Although the core of their activities may not be centered around political science, other organizations also sometimes organize scholarly activities related to politics. First among these is the Ankara based Turkish Social Science Association that includes many political scientists among its members. It organizes an annual national convention in which a sizable number of panels are devoted to papers given by political scientists. Turkish Historical Society also 13

14 incorporates members who study questions of recent Turkish domestic and international politics and organizes occasional conferences where political scientists present papers. Similarly, the Union of Turkish Bar Association organizes frequent conferences and invites political scientists to give papers. As the community of political scientists epands, it is to be epected that associations focusing on the subfields of political science will develop to promote professional activities and enhance the evolution of new professional communities. Turkish Political Science: Approaches and Specializations Until recently, much of the research and writing by Turkish political scientists focused on Turkey s domestic and international politics. There were two prevalent forms of writing. Some works were in the nature of transmitting theoretical frameworks as well as substantive knowledge generated elsewhere to Turkish students and scholarly communities while others used these to study questions pertaining to Turkey. The latter have epanded rapidly while the former is provided for by the translation of major works into Turkish. It is also the case that nowadays, almost all scholars have reasonable familiarity with a world language, often English, making it possible for them to read major works in Political Science before they may be translated into Turkish. The major subdisciplines were all represented in these undertakings. A majority of studies naturally focused on national politics, ideas and institutions. Works on comparative politics, apart from those describing other systems, usually included Turkey as one of the countries under study. Studies of international relations, on the other hand, often focused on some question of Turkish foreign policy. While some studies of political thought concentrated on Turco-Ottoman thinkers, others attempted to interpret widely known theoretical works in terms of Turkish politics. This seemed particularly true in the case of Karl Mar and his followers as well as some Islamic thinkers. The changes in Turkey s international environment as well as significant domestic socio-economic change have been reflected in the broadening of political studies. As has been the case in many societies, today gender studies have gained in importance. Achievement of high levels of economic growth has stimulated studies in both the domestic and international political economy. The concomitant ascendance of Turkey to the position of a primary regional power, on the other hand, has generated interest in the study of neighboring countries and regions in which Turkey has an interest, led by Central Asia and the 14

15 Caucasus. Intense urbanization has promoted more emphasis both on urban planning and the study of local government. Finally, in the face of the need to reform the administrative system to meet the needs of a rapidly changing society, policy analysis has epanded. Both the government and several foundations contract research to eamine policies and institutions with a view to reforming them. Such breadth of studies implies richness in methodological and epistemological preferences. In its early stages of evolution, having been closely associated with law, Turkish political science reflected a normative proclivity. This was reinforced by the fact that the original institution, the School of Political Science, was meant to train bureaucrats who were dedicated to the tenets of the republican regime. Though never fully out of the picture, such normative approaches have later been overtaken by those that are empirical. Among the latter, in addition to structural analyses, survey research as well as other data that lends itself to quantitative treatment occupy a prominent place. Elite background studies, studies of voting behavior, attitudinal surveys are but eamples. It is interesting that rational choice studies have generated hardly any interest among Turkish political scientists. Such studies have been confined to the domain of some American trained economists. Outlook The developments and forces that have promoted change in Turkish Political Science will continue operate in the foreseeable future. First, as the university system continues to epand, the community of political scientists will also continue to epand. This growth will also lead to the conduct of more research, the publication of more books and scholarly journals in addition to an increase in the number of professional organizations. Second, Turkey s growing prominence as an economic and a political actor in its region will encourage studies of other societies by Turkish political scientists. The same phenomenon will also promote more and varied studies in Turkey s international relations as well as in the study of international relations itself. Within this contet, studies that relate to the economic aspects of politics are likely to increase. Third, as Turkey continues to urbanize, studies of local government, its activities and its problems would be epected to rise in prominence. Fourth, it also appears that the transformation of the Turkish political system from a state prevalent structure to one in which democratic and inclusionary institutions prevail, will generate further studies of democratization, pluralism, the political role of the 15

16 military, bureaucracy among others. Fifth, the ascension of the role of ethnic groups globally as political actors, coupled with Turkey s multi-ethnic population, has already intensified studies of ethnicity and politics and related topics. These would be epected to epand in the future. Sith, as the process of the rationalization of the Turkish economy continues, pressures for the reform of the public sector and analysis, and evaluation of its activities will become more deeply felt. 16