Eighteenth Annual Conference of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies (ACSIS)

Abstract

The American Cowicil for the study of Islamic Societies (ACSIS) held its
18th Annual Conference April 27-28, 2001 at Villanova University,
Pennsylvania. ACSIS was established in 1983 to bring together scholars
engaged in the study of Islamic Societies and states around the world from
religious, cultural, economic and political perspectives. ACSIS also has a
strong focus on Pakistan Studies. The program director, Dr. Hafeez Malik
must be congratulated for consistency with which ACSIS continues to meet
and produce its publication The Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern
Studies.
In a small symposium with a total of seven panels and some 20 speakers
(except the absentees), panel areas covered ranged from Turkey and the
West to Muslims in Tibet and China, while the subjects were as diverse as
foreign policy, media studies and pluralism.
The first panel began with the discussion of Turkey's role in the European
Union (EU). Augusta State University's Michael Bishku's presented
"Destination European Union? The Politics and Economics of Turkey's
Case for Admission" The paper put the conference to a good start because
the following two papers by James Sowerwine and John Vander Lippe
dealt with topic directly related to Turkey's admission into European
Union. Respectively, these papers were "The Role of Turkey in European
Security" and "Turkish-American Relations".
Bishku pointed out at the unevenness and asymmetrical relationship that
characterized the Turkey-EU relations. EU's integration itself is not
entirely a democratic exercise but a product of European search for
enduring security, a quasi-Utopian dream of European integration
ideologues and a generation of technocratic elite who want Europe unified.
Similarly, the earlier Turkish elite wanted to enter EU for the reasons of
changing identity, economic or civilizational, whereas the society at that
time was still traditional and felt a deeper bond with the Muslim world than
secular Europe. However, the current Turkish drive for membership in EU
comes surprisingly not from the secular elite but the very Islamic sectors of
society; while the elite wants to hold on to the Kemalist power apparatus,
the society wants to democratize and join the EU, because by doing so, the
state will no longer be able to pursue its Machiavellian tactics on its
citizens, as it would have to abide by, in substance, to the Human Rights ...