Nora Fisher-Onar, "Contesting Pluralism(s): Islamism, Liberalism and Nationalism in Turkey and Beyond" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

Summary

Contesting Pluralism(s): Islamism, Liberalism and Nationalism in Turkey and Beyond (Cambridge UP, 2024) challenges a widespread tendency to limit studies of Turkish - and Muslim - politics to 'Islamist vs. secularist' or 'Islam vs. democracy' debates. Instead, Nora Fisher-Onar's innovative argument centers on coalitions for and against pluralism. Retelling Turkey's story from the late Ottoman Empire to the present as a tale of pluralizing vs. anti-pluralist coalitions, this book offers an alternative explanation for major outcomes from elections and coup d'etats to revolutions. Here, cross-camp alliances pit those who are willing to coexist with 'Other(s)' against those who champion a unitary, national project in which everyone speaks, believes, looks, and loves as they do. Drawing on a rich array of primary and secondary data, Fisher-Onar introduces an analytical framework for capturing causal complexity in political contestation. This study rejects Orientalist exceptionalism, rereading the relationship between political religion, pluralism, and populism via a framework that travels across and beyond the Muslim-majority world.

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Sasikumar Sundaram

Dr Sasikumar S. Sundaram is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of International Politics at City, University of London, Chair of the Global South Caucus of the International Studies Association (ISA) (2026-2028). He is author of book Rhetorical Powers: How Rising States Shape International Order (Columbia University Press, 2026)

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