Perception of Society and Democracy in Ottoman Liberal and Socialist Thought

Authors : Haluk Alkan, Atila Doğan

Pages : 7-28

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Publication Date : 2015-12-15

Article Type : Research

Abstract :The Second Constitutional Monarchy (1908-1918) marked the beginning of a period during which various thoughts and movements that had been united in their opposition to Abdulhamid II become disunited, organized independently of each other, and were able to express themselves. This era was not only instrumental in shaping Ottoman liberal and socialist thought but also constituted the dynamics of the events that would set the course of such thoughts in the Republican era. This study provides a comparative analysis of how liberal and socialist movements in the late Ottoman Empire perceived society and democracy in the aftermath of the Second Constitutional Monarchy. It first examines the views of the two leading groups of Ottoman liberal thought, namely, Ulum-u İktisadiye ve İçtimaiye Mecmuası (The Journal of Sciences of Economics and Society) and Teşebbüs-i Şahsi ve Adem-i Merkeziyet Cemiyeti (The Private Enterprise and Decentralization Society). Second, the views of Ottoman socialists are addressed with reference to the groups that constituted the background of the Ottoman Socialist Party and the Turkish Communist Party. The study ends with a comparative discussion of the conclusions reached.
Keywords : Ottoman, society, democracy, liberalism, socialism