Federal India and Turkish Nation- state: Democracies with a Difference

Abstract

Federal India and Turkish Nation- state: Democracies with a Difference

Abstract

It is generally believed that the systems of governance in most of the countries are inspired by the notion of nation-state for long-term benefits within as well as outside their jurisdiction. What has challenged the notional supremacy of a nation-state is the democratic ethos of governance in multicultural and plural nation-states where democracy, federalism, human rights, rights of minorities, fundamental rights and freedom of expression transformed political landscape. It is interesting to note that the two democracies—India and Turkey belong to Asia while the latter has also been European territorially with eight land borders and four to five sea borders with European, Asian and Caucasian countries. Turkey lies between the East and the West and between the North and the South. Historically, Turkey is known to possess the rich cultural heritage while India has always been the gate-way to Asia. Moreover, the cultural connotation of Turkey speaks of the ‗cohabitation‘ of two cultures‘ belonging to two different civilizations. The creation of Turkish Republic by the Kemalist Revolution was based on the rejection of the history of the people as it happened in case of France. On the contrary, Indian national movement carried over the heritage of various ages including the institutions created by the British rulers. However, in the case of Turkey, the state came with a new project of nation-state, modernity and military elite-guided polity. The Turkish ruling elite headed by Ataturk wanted to act as Plato‘s Philosopher-King and his army as Platonic system for adequate defense

Keywords

• Federalism
• nation-state
• Turkish politics
• Indian politics
• democratization
• Jammu and Kashmir
• Kurdish issue