Post-Islamism: The Case of Turkey’s AKP

Abstract

Each of the case studies covered thus far has involved an Islamist actor. In this chapter, we examine a secular party that is the successor of a long line of Islamist groups. Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP) is a prime example of a post-Islamist group making the journey out of Islamism.¹ Any discussion of political Islam and democratization would be incomplete without a closer look at this key post-Islamist actor. Some observers insist that the AKP remains very much an Islamist group and argue against classifying it as secular. They suggest that its retreat from its Islamist agenda is a tactical move designed to avoid the fate of its more open predecessors that were eventually declared illegal. However, the party’s behavior over the past decade underscores a genuine transformation that has seen it jettison its Islamist roots and thus it can no longer be considered part of Islamism.²