The Young Scholars on Turkey (YSOT) Program presents:

"Post-Islamism Discourse in the International Order: The AK Party Experience"
by Ismail Yaylaci, University of Minnesota

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Moderated by Kadir Ustun, Research Director, SETA Foundation at Washington D.C.

Event Summary:

Ismail Yaylaci started his presentation by describing the “post-Islamism” discourse, which posits that the Islamist political figures no longer seek to establish an Islamic state because they have given into the liberal ideas emanating from the West. Yaylaci critiqued this approach for its binary approach and for failing to account for “agency” of Islamist actors. Yaylaci proposed a new conceptualization, which he called “performative socialization.” Explaining this concept as “actors’ introduction of differences and frictions in the act of repetition,” Yaylaci suggested that the AK Party experience in Turkey should be understood as such. While engaging with the post-World War II international order, Turkey criticized the system at the same time. Participation in the international order was accompanied by a “counter-hegemonic” (but not rejectionist) discourse. Turkish foreign policy under the AK Party government, he argued, was representative of this “performative socialization.”

Ismail Yaylaci is a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the University of Minnesota. He received his Master's degree in Political Science and International Relations from Bogazici University, Turkey. His current research deals with the discourses on the transformation of Islamism in world politics. His areas of research include international relations theory, international norms and institutions, Islam and politics, and Islamism with a particular focus on Turkey and Egypt.

*** The objective of the Young Scholars on Turkey Program (YSOT), co-sponsored by SETA Foundation at Washington D.C. and the Institute of Turkish Studies (ITS), is to provide young social scientists with a venue to present their policy relevant, original academic research in the nation's capital Washington D.C. For further information about the program, please visit http://www.setadc.org/ysot.