Cultural changes in the islamic world

A Case Study: Turkey and Iran

Can a state modernize without westernize?

• How is Islam to be used by a society?• Turkey: they saw Islam differently than Iran

(see)• Post WWI Turkey• Kemal Ataturk

Turkey’s Modernization• Began with a modernization movement after

WWI that embraced Western ideas• Much of the rigid elements of Islamist thought

were disallowed (sharia)• Women could give up the veil• Government moved towards socialism • Authoritarian but Parliamentary• Eventually has sought membership in EU

Iran’s path to modernity

• Post WWI era saw a startling degree of anger towards West.

• Iran (Persia) had been partitioned against its will in 1906.

• Post WWII era viewed Shah Reza Pahlavi government as a puppet of Western powers.

Shah and Iran• Coalesced to US on oil deals• Professed anti communist • Secularized government• Looked to abolish Sharia

Rise of Islamism• As the wealth gap grew and theRelationship with the Great Satan US grew closer, so did the anger in Mosques.

Revolution!• The Iranian Revolution

of 1979• Too many affronts to

Islam • Shah was forced to

abdicate as the Khomeni revolution had tapped into Iranian Islamist beliefs.

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On a collision course with the USA

• Iranian Hostage Crisis: 1979• Oil Embargo: 1970’s• Iran-Iraq War: 1980’s• Post 9/11 Politics• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the nuclearization of

Iran and the USA