Challenging Neoliberalism at Turkey's Gezi Park / Social Movements and Transformation (PDF)

Efe Can Gürcan is a PhD student in Sociology at Simon Fraser University, Canada. His research interests lie in the areas of Marxism, political sociology (social movements and the state), Latin America, development and food studies, and Turkish politics and society.

Efe Peker is a joint-PhD Candidate in Sociology at Simon Fraser University, Canada and History at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France. His research interests focus on the political/historical sociology of social movements and state building, sociology of religion/ideology, modernity and secularism, urban sociology, and labor studies.

"A brilliant analysis of the social roots of the 'Turkish spring' and the culture of resistance it has created." - Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums

"This provocative critical analysis of a local movement draws globally-relevant conclusions. Theoretically sophisticated, critically engaged, and strategically nuanced, the authors' account of the Gezi Park mobilization is an exemplary reflective account of innovative disruptive politics in face of a distinctive form of neoliberal politics. Multifaceted in its approach, concerned with conjunctural as well as structural factors, it provides new insights into the Gezi Park movement and offers important lessons for resisting and moving beyond neoliberalism." Bob Jessop, Distinguished Professor and Founding Director of the Institute for Advanced studies, Lancaster University, UK

"Grounded in an acute reading of Turkey's distinctive path of neoliberalization, Gürcan and Peker present a creative and provocative analysis of the cycle of urban protests triggered by the events in Gezi Park. The book deserves to become the definitive account of the Turkish "long summer," and a map to the futures of anti-neoliberal politics." - Jamie Peck, Canada Research Chair in Urban & Regional Political Economy, University of British Columbia, Canada

"Challenging Neoliberalism at Turkey's Gezi Park is a fascinating read which brings together an analysis of Turkey's "neoliberalism with Islamic characteristics" with a discussion of the Gezi/Taksim protests in terms of their class background, the organization of the movement and its remarkable cultural creativity. The authors are to be congratulated on this book, which marks an important step forward in analysis of contemporary Turkish movements." - Laurence Cox, Director of the MA in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism, Maynooth University, Ireland

"The Gezi Park events constitute one of the decisive turning points not only for Turkey, but