Zan Tao & Dong Zhenghua: “Guided Modernization” in Turkey: From Young Turks to Kemalists

Authors: Prof. Zan Tao and Dong Zhenghua are scholars of Peking University, experts in Turkey studies.

Abstract: The Young Turks (İttihatçılar), being commonly regarded as the first generation of Turkish enthno-nationalists of the late Ottoman Emipre, aimed at saving the Ottoman state in the late 19th and early 20th century through both Turkifying and modernizing projects. The Young Turks, however, failed their mission to save the Ottoman Empire in effect, yet their course continued in the name of Kemalists/Kemalism in the Turkish Republic after 1923. There is a clear historical continuity between the İttihatçılar and Kemalists. The Young Turks and Kemalists and their reforms represent the Turkish elites’ top-down efforts to install European-style modernity in their society. The Turkish journey to modernity is a transformation under the tutelage of the state elites and cultural elites. We call this type of transformation “guided modernization”.

Keywords: Guided Modernization, Young Turks, Nationalism, Secularism

More than a century has gone by since the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. Today, when we try to look back at that revolution and commemorate it, it is not easy to assert that it has got the final evaluation in the modern history of Turkey. History serves as a bridge linking the past and the present. To understand today’s Turkey, a country where the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) has established a long-term rule under the tutelage of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the traditional Kemalist secularists headed by the Halk Party (CHP) and the Turkish Armed Forces are, to a large extent, being marginalized and challenged. This paper mainly explores two aspects—the nationalism and secularism, which constituted the basis of Kemalism and the most important dimensions to understand modern Turkey. Young Turks were the first group of nationalists who wanted to save the Ottoman state/empire through both Turkifying and modernizing it (a process of nationalization and modernization). The Young Turks failed their mission to save the Ottoman Empire in effect, yet their course continued in the name of Kemalism in the Turkish Republic, although for a long time the Kemalists have denied that they are the successors of the Young Turk Revolution. It is going to argue, in this paper, that the Young Turks and Kemalists and their reforms represented the Turkish elites’ continuous top-down experiment to install European-style modernity in their society. The Turkish journey to modernity is a transformation under the tutelage of the state elites and cultural elites. [1] Here, we accept Metin Heper’s division of state elites (including technocrats and officers) and political elites (politicians on behalf of different interest groups).

 See Metin Heper, “The Ottoman Legacy and Turkish Politics”, Journal of International Affairs, fall 2000,

We call this type of transformation “guided modernization”, which is coined by the authors inspired by the so-called “guided democracy”. “Guided democracy” is also called “managed democracy”. Such governments are legitimized by elections that are free and fair, but do not change the state’s policies, motives, and goals. “Managed democracy’ is centered on containing electoral politics; it is cool, even hostile toward social democracy beyond promoting literacy, job training, and other essentials for a society struggling to survive in the global economy. ‘Managed democracy’ is democracy systematized.”define the modernization in Turkey during the Young Turks and Kemalist period a guided modernization. (2] [3]

[2]: Sheldon S. Wolin, Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008, p. 47; see also hitps:/en wikipedia org/wiki/Guided_democracy. Accessed Dec. 18, 2021; as for further discussions of guided democracy, please refer to Jose Arsenio Torres, “The Political Ideology of Guided Democracy”.The Review of Politics, vol.25, no.1 (Jan., 1963), p. 34-63

[3] The modernization efforts of Ottoman Empire from Selim IVto the Tanzimat reforms of 19th century could all be regarded as top-down experiments, but only the Young Turks are real nationalist elites who controlled the state power during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. So, in this paper, we will only focus on the history of Turkey since Young Turks

As will be argued in later parts of this paper, by using “guided Following the definition of “guided democracy”, in this paper we modernization”, we mainly refer to the state elites dominated, top-down features of Turkish modernization during the discussed period.

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