The Social and Political Thought of Ziya Gökalp 1876-1924 by Taha Parla

Review by: Paul J. Magnarella

Middle East Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Spring, 1986), p. 375
Published by: Middle East Institute
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York University Press, 1985. Distrib. Columbia
University Press, New York. New York Univer-
sity Studies in Near EasternCivilization,No. 10,
xviii + 73 pages. Notes to p. 83. Index to p. 89.
$30.00.
TawfiqAl-Hakimfinishedthe manuscriptof this
book at the age of 70 in 1972, after 20 years of
Nasir's revolution. The book includes his assess-
ment and impressionsnot only of the revolution
but also of Nasir as its mastermindand its leader.
Al-Hakim is one of the most prominentand
admiredwritersandplaywrightsin the Arabworld.
He is also a philosopherin his own right.Through
his insight, sensitivityand wisdom, TheReturnof
Consciousness expresses sentiments which this
reviewer believes are held by the vast majorityof
Egyptians.
The workprogressessmoothlyfroma positionof
enthusiasmandfull supportfor the revolution,as it
symbolized a general consensus against King
Fariiq's corruption,to a position of bewilderment
over Nasir's mistakes, and then to a finalposition
that the revolutionin fact representedsuspension
of an evolutionarymovementtowarddemocracy,
paralysis of thought, oppression, and on top of
that, lies and deception. "The ruler succeeded in
submergingall of Egypt within himself' (p. 55).
Worse, whenevertherewas a majorcalamity,such
as the 1967 defeat, "the responsible ones were
always the others. Thus he continuedto be in the
seat of power in Egypt . . . that leadership which
ruinedEgyptandbroughttragedyto the Arabs"(p.
43). An alternativetitle, in fact, mighteasily have
been "The Great Deceit."
Bayly Winderhas contributedsignificantlyto the
volume, not only because of his meticulousliterary
translationfromArabicto Englishbut, even more,
because of his detailedresearchof every personal-
ity and event mentionedin the originaltext. The 92 Paul J. Magnarella is Professor of Anthropol-
footnotes reflecta thoroughinvestigation,and this ogy, University of
book thus can be understoodbetter by non-Arab and Change in Florida and author of Tradition
readers unfamiliarwith Egypt's personalitiesand PeasantVenture
modernhistory. Furthermore,it can be used as a
referencefor seriousresearch. TheReturnof Con-
sciousness is a must for anyone wishingto under-
standNasir's revolution.Indeedit is a masterpiece
as translatedinto Englishby Winder.
Ibrahim M. Oweiss, Georgetown University,
Washington, DC.
memberof the Committeeof Union and Progress,
the firstprofessorof sociology at IstanbulUniver-
sity, and a memberof the FirstTurkishRepublic's
NationalAssembly.Relyingheavilyon the ideas of
French sociologist Emile Durkheim, Gokalp at-
tempted to synthesize the concepts of Turkism,
Islam, and Westernisminto a harmoniousmeta-
physical system that he hoped could be trans-
formedinto a psychologicallysettlingand socially
valid programof action for Turkey. His hopes,
unfortunately,were never realized.
In the present work, which is a substantively
unaltereddoctoral dissertation submitted to Co-
lumbiaUniversityin 1980,authorParlaproclaims
Gokalp to be "the only systematic thinker that
Turkeyhas producedin the twentiethcentury" (p.
1). Parla'sgoals are to explicateGokalp'spolitical
philosophy and relate it to more recent Turkish
political developments. He contends that the
"solidarismof the RepublicanPeople's Partyof the
Second Republic(1960-1980),the Kemalismof the
original RPP, the continuing Kemalism of the
armed forces, and the national socialism of the
National Action Party are variants of Gokalp's
corporatism"(pp. 7-8). Parlais also determinedto
rescue Gokalpfrom chargesthat some of his writ-
ings displayedillogic, inconsistency, simple imita-
tion, ethnocentricism,and even racism.
AlthoughParlapresentsan interestingthesis, his
abstractand jargonizedwritingseverely limit the
utility of this work for the empirically-minded
social scientist. Philosophersof political thought,
however, may find it rewarding. Parla fails to
utilize importantFrenchand Germansources, and
he offers insufficientevidence to supporthis criti-
cisms of Heyd's' superiorstudy of Gokalp's life
and thought.
a Turkish Town (1981) and The
(1979).
Recent Publications

GENERAL
The Social and Political Thoughtof Ziya Gokalp
1876-1924, by Taha Parla. Leiden, E. J. Brill, The Middle East: Past and Present, 2nd ed. by
1985.Social, Economicand PoliticalStudiesof the Yahya Armajani and Thomas Ricks. Englewood
MiddleEast. Vol. 35. vii + 128pages. Notes to p. Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1985. xiv + 466 pages.
148.Bibl. to p. 157.GLDRS60.00, c. $19.00paper.
1. Uriel Heyd, Foundations of Turkish Na-
Ziya Gokalp (1876-1924), the writer, poet and tionalism: The Life and Teachings of Ziya Gokalp
majortheorist of Turkishnationalism,was also a (London: Luzac, 1950).

375

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