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An International and Collaborative Research Programme

Seminar Session: June 13, 2022: Erol Ulker

“‘Authoritarian Democracy’ and the late Ottoman Empire: State, Power, and Civil Society in the Second Constitutional Period”

June 13, 2022. 16h00-18h00 (Berlin Time).

Registration: https://forms.gle/A8AJDvdaQyUiG5qD8

Abstract:

My paper aims to discuss the political and ideological character of the single-party rule that prevailed in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. I address this topic by focusing on the formation of a corporatist movement in the Second Constitutional Period (1908-1918). The foundations of this movement were laid after the Constitutional Revolution of 1908, when a large number of associations, trade unions, and cooperatives were established in the Empire. A political circle associated with the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), the driving force of the Revolution of 1908, benefited from this unprecedented expansion in Ottoman civil society. This circle developed strong political and economic ties with artisan and labor organizations, and formulated a corporatist political programme, Representation of Professions (Temsil-i Meslekî), which proposed the restructuring of political and economic life based on corporations representing major occupational groups. After briefly referring to the conditions that led to the rise of the corporatist movement within the CUP, I discuss how it was integrated into the Unionist single-party rule. Drawing on a comparative perspective and the existing literature on the subject, I suggest to characterize this regime as an authoritarian democracy. I argue that in the Ottoman Empire the corporatist movement in question grew strong enough to control key political and economic sectors of the state during much of the First World War period, but was never strong enough to seize absolute power. It coexisted and competed with different power blocs under formal democratic procedures.

Erol Ülker is assistant professor of international relations at the faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences of Işik University in Istanbul and a former EUME fellow 2015/2016 at Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin. He published extensively on the question of power, representation and political organisations during the late-Ottoman and early republican periods. Among his latest articles: “Anti-Imperialism and Kemalism in Turkey’s Long Sixties“and “The Political Incorporation of Labor in Turkey” (with F. Apaydin).

Next session: July 11, 2022: Ulrike Freitag, (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient / Freie Universität Berlin), “Consultative mechanisms and institutions in late Ottoman Jeddah

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An International and Collaborative Research Programme

25 May 2022: International Workshop on Archives, Democracy and Civil Society

The Workshop takes place in Berlin, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient

The conservation of the archives of all decision-making processes is part of the core duties of the exercize of power. It’s function is both internal, as administrations always need to keep a trace of their own actions and external, as other eyes might wish to consult traces of decisions. This function also has various temporalities: immediate for the coordination of services and future under the form of archives for reference, documentation, contestation, recourse or historical research. The possibility for people to have access to such resources is one of the main pillars of democracy and is the object of strong debates as for its modalities, practicalities and legitimate limitations.

The object of this workhop is to reflect on such issues from the combined points of views of historical research, archives conservation and debates on the nature of democracy. Archives and the functioning of conservation apparatuses, from medieval Islam, the Ottoman Empire, colonial powers to independent States, but also various European contexts in a comparative perspective, are taken into consideration and interpreted according to questionings pertaining to accessibility, transparency, openess, or sometimes the organized lack thereof. The aim is to reflect on the link between archival conservation and civil society.

In order to reflect on the complex interaction between various temporalities, the concept of historicity is proposed as a tool for decyphering what was at stake around the archives, their degree of openess, their state of conservation and the conditions of their critical interpretation in each cultural and temporal configuration examined, as well as in present times. As for present times, the question of digitalisation, open-source and open-access will also be examined.

Programme:

9h00: Welcoming Words by Prof. Ulrike Freitag, Director of the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient

9h15: Introduction by Nora Lafi (HISDEMAB project leader): “Archives and the Question of Democracy: Between Historical Research and Civil Society”

9h30-12h00, Session 2: Digital Heritage between Conservation and Democracy. Chair: Canay Șahin ( Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin )

Erol Ülker ( Işık University and Türkiye Sosyal Tarih Araştırma Vakfı, Istanbul)

Sibel Servet Sular (Kadın Eserleri Kütüphanesi ve Bilgi Merkezi Vakfı, Istanbul), translation by Elisabeth Kimmerle (Leibniz-IEG Potsdam, HISDEMAB)

Stefania Piersanti (Director of the Archivio di Stato di Venezia)

Alisher Karabaev (Librarian and Archivist at Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin) and Thomas Ripper (Chief Librarian and Archivist, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin)

12h00-13h00 Lunch at ZMO

13h00-14h00, Session 1: European Archival Resources and the study of the Orient. Chair: Abdul Hameed Al-Kayyali (Institut français du Proche-Orient, Amman)

Feras Kremsti (Curator of the Oriental Manuscript Collection, Gotha Research Library, Gotha)

Dima Dayoub (Coordinator of the Syrian Heritage Archive Project; Documenting the built Heritage catalogue of Aleppo at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin)

14h-15h00Session 3: Archives and the Question of Democratic Transitions. Chair: Robin Schmahl (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, HISDEMAB)

Hedi Jallab (Director of the Archives nationales de Tunisie)

Sophia Hoffmann (Universität Erfurt and leader of the research programme Learning Intelligence: The Exchange of Secret Service Knowledge between Germany and the Arab Middle East 1960 – 2010 at Leibniz-ZMO)

15h00-15h30: Final Roundtable

16:30: visit of Stasi Archives in Berlin

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An International and Collaborative Research Programme

23 & 24 May, 2022: International Workshop in Berlin

The Historicity of Democracy in the Arab and Muslim worlds

The workshop takes place at Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient. It is organised around the presentation of draft-chapters following a public call for papers, in the framework of the preparation of a collective book. For attendance, please contact Simon Baumann <Simon.Baumann@zmo.de>

23 May

09:00-13:00

Welcoming words by Prof. Ulrike Freitag, Director of the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient

Lafi (Nora) (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, HISDEMAB project leader and editor of the book project), “Introduction: Deliberation, Representation, Elections: Questioning the Historicity of Democracy in the Arab and Muslim Worlds”

Reflections on historicity and the quest of possible roots

Al-Kayyali (Abdul-Hameed), “The Question of Power in Classical Islam: Searching for the roots of deliberative processes

The late-Ottoman period

Akcasu (Ebru), “Reconsidering the Constituency: Immigrant Inclusivity in the late Empire’s Political Arena

Zborowski (Antje), “Yet the words State and Nation are not always synonymous: a Negotiation of Ottoman identity in the year 1911

Sever (Nurkan), “Allegations of Misconduct, Irregularity, and Intimidation in the 1912 Ottoman General Elections Held Within the Baghdad Province“ (online)

Guéchi (Fatima Zohra),Composition,  délibération et prise de décision  dans le diwan de Haj Ahmed, (dernier) Bey de Constantine” (online)

El Guabli (Brahim), “Debating ‘Amazigh Deliberative Democracy’ in Morocco” (online)

14:00-18:00

The Colonial Context

Schmahl (Robin F.C.), “Treading a Fine Line: Deliberation, Mediation and Colonial Propaganda within the Diwan of Cairo, July-October 1798

Dhenin (Marianne), “Rearing Modern Egypt: Women-Led Child Welfare Programs as Sites of Political Participation and Transformation in the Early 20th Century

Amer (Abdel Qader), “Political and Administrative Decision-Making Processes Under Colonization: The National Governance Experiment During the British Mandate Over Iraq 1920-1932

Bösch (Frank), “Fighting for Democracy Abroad: Iranian Protest in West Germany, 1955-1973

Discussant: Florian Riedler, “Discussing the chapters, discussing the general book project: addressing the historicity of democracy”

24 May

09:00-13:00

Sing (Manfred), “The Concept of Citizenship in Formally (Not So) Independent Egypt

Hajaji (Ahlem), “Elections within the deliberative bodies of the Jewish community in Tunis during the colonial period

Naili (Falestin), “Colonial Contingencies: the Political Marginalisation of the Municipality of Jerusalem under the British Mandate

Reflections on post-1945 situations, chair Ülker (Erol)

Kimmerle (Elisabeth), “Demanding Democracy from Abroad – Transnational Socialist Movements in the 1970s between Turkey and West Germany

Evren (Can), “Debt of the City, Debts to the City: Professional Men’s Football, City Teams, and the Aristocracy-Democracy Dialectic in Turkey (1960-2020)

14:00-17:00

Limam (Jinene), “The democratic transition in Tunisia: from leadership to crisis

Ben Khalifa (Riadh), “Decision-Making Processes within the local cells in East-Southern France of the Algerian National Liberation Front during the War of Liberation

DiscussantGuirguis (Laure), “Discussing the chapters, discussing the general book project: addressing the historicity of democracy in the Arab world”

Nora Lafi: General Conclusion and Planning of the Future Steps

19:00: Visit of the exhibition on Parliamentary History in the dome of the Reichstag building.

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An International and Collaborative Research Programme

New Publication

Naïli (Falestin), La Palestine entre patrimoine et providence, Paris, Karthala, 2022, 400p.

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An International and Collaborative Research Programme

New Publication

Lafi (Nora), “La globalisation ottomane et ses régimes d’historicité. Une approche par l’urbain” in Un moyen-Orient ordinaire (edited by Thierry Boissière and Yoann Morvan), Marseille, Diacritiques, 2022, p.8-27.

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An International and Collaborative Research Programme

Seminar Session: April 25, 2022: Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat

“Human Rights and Democracy in Class and Identity Politics”

April 25, 2022. 16h00-18h00 (Berlin Time). Registration: https://forms.gle/A8AJDvdaQyUiG5qD8

Abstract: Liberal democracies are continuously challenged and increasingly in danger. Instability of democracy has been typically associated with developing countries, since many democratic systems established in the 1950s and 1960s in newly independent states gave way to military coups and other authoritarian take overs. The 1990s’ euphoria about Eastern Bloc countries’ transition to democracy progressively turned into disappointments. Now, we see democratic principles and institutions are threatened even in “established democracies.” This talk examines the decline of democracies in the Cold War and post-Cold War periods, which can be considered as dominated by class and identity politics, respectively. Noting the close relationship between human rights and democracy, it presents a human rights theory of democracy that explains the decline of democracy by the gap between different types of human rights. On the deterioration or stagnation of social and economic rights, it draws attention to the problems with classical and neoliberal economics.

Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat is Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut. She studies human rights, with an emphasis on women’s rights, as well as processes of democratization, globalization, and development. Her publications include numerous journal articles and book chapters, as well as books: Democracy and Human Rights in Developing Countries (1991); Deconstructing Images of ‘The Turkish Woman’ (1998); Non-State Actors in the Human Rights Universe (Co-ed, 2006); Human Rights Worldwide (2006); Human Rights in Turkey (2007); The Uses and Misuses of Human Rights (Co-ed with George Andreopoulos, 2014). In addition to participating in professional organizations in various capacities (e.g., Founding President, Human Rights Section of APSA), she has served on the editorial boards of several journals. She is also the editor of the book series “Power and Human Rights” by the Lynne Rienner Publishers. She is recognized by several awards, including the APSA Award of Distinguished Scholar in Human Rights (2010), SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities (2006), and the title of Juanita and Joseph Leff Distinguished Professor (Purchase College, 2006). She has been engaged in human rights activism, as well, and is a founding member of the Women’s Platform for Equality (EŞİK) in Turkey.

Next session: May 30, 2022: Mohamed Gamal-Eldin, “Water, Land and Early Nationalism: Protest and Popular Resistance in the Suez Canal Cities, 1859-1919

Full 2020-2021-2022 programme of the HISDEMAB seminar

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An International and Collaborative Research Programme

New Publication

Habib Kazdaghli just published, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the colonialist coup of 1952 in Tunisia: “26 Mars 1952: Coup de force colonialiste en Tunisie“, L’Humanité Magazine, 26 mars 2022, p.77-81.

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An International and Collaborative Research Programme

New Publication

Nora Lafi just published (Open Access): “Conceptualising Urbanity, Reinterpreting Coexistence: A ḥisba Manuscript of the Late Ottoman Era in Tunis”, in Religion and Urbanity Online, edited by Susanne Rau and Jörg Rüpke, Berlin-Boston, De Gruyter, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/urbrel.11276311

This work was prepared during her stay at Max Weber Kolleg (Universität Erfurt) as a Senior Research Fellow in 2020.

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An International and Collaborative Research Programme

Seminar Session: March 14, 2022: Caner Tekin

Attitudes of the Turkish Guest Workers towards Democratic Participation in Trade Unions and Companies: Evidence from the Migrant Associations in Cologne and Frankfurt until the Recruitment Ban (1973)”

March 14, 2022. 16h00-18h00 (Berlin Time). Registration: https://forms.gle/A8AJDvdaQyUiG5qD8

Abstract:

The period (1961-1973) of the Turkish guest workers in Federal Germany is a topic of a large literature, but not much light has been shed on the disagreements and even conflicts among worker organisations about labour activism and democratic participation in trade unions and production processes. If anything, in the early 1960s Turkish workers massively gathered under trade unions, even at a time when guest workers’ rights had been of secondary importance in trade unions. Based on the archival material published by the worker associations in Cologne and Frankfurt, the paper discusses the key attitudes raised within the early Turkish associations towards how to engage German trade unions and work councils at companies individually and in the organisational form. In brief, the legal framework about the temporary work in Germany, trade unions’ positions, and nationalist forces consolidated in Turkish governments and bureaucracy underpinned conflicting disputes about the idea of democratic participation through labour activism.

Dr. Caner Tekin is a researcher at the Institute for Social Movements of the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), where he leads the project “History of the Turkish Migrant Organisations in Comparison” funded by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung. He received his doctor title at RUB in 2020. He worked previously as postdoctoral fellow at the Georg-Eckert Institute for Textbook Research and as teaching fellow at the RUB Centre for Mediterranean Studies. He authored the Book “Debating Turkey in Europe: Identities and Concepts” (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), edited a recent volume of the Journal Moving the Social (No:65/2021) and co-edited (with Stefan Berger) the volume “History and Belonging: Representations of the Past in Contemporary European Politics” (New York: Berghahn Books, 2018).

Next session: April 25, 2022

Full 2020-2021-2022 programme of the HISDEMAB seminar

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An International and Collaborative Research Programme

To attend Online: Methodological Reflections on History Writing in and on Libya (Ottoman era – Present times)

On March 11, 17h00 (Berlin time), Nora Lafi presents (in Arabic) (together with Suaad Alghafal) a paper on this topic in the framework of the international conference on Libyan History organized online by the University of Derna.