Context and Circumstance: The Turkish Military and Politics (Adelphi series)

Analyzing why and how the military exercises political influence in Turkey, this book argues that its role grows out of a specific context and is more a symptom than a cause of the country's flawed democracy. It contends that the military's influence is neither uniform nor total and has resulted in a system in which civilian authority is primary rather than supreme. It analyzes the mechanisms through which the military attempts to shape policy, and its use of informal authority rather than formal rights or responsibilities to exercise influence. Moreover, it suggests that military withdrawal from politics will be slow and gradual, dependent more on changes in the context out of which the military's role has grown than in response to external pressure or enticement.