Institutional convergence of Turkish Islam and European social democracy on the political economy of social question

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to find out if there is any convergence between the Third Way in Europe and the Conservative Democracy in Turkey in their politico-economic strategies for dealing with the social question with the thought that both the political identities have come into existence as a consequence of a similar initiative to reformulate their egalitarian cores according to the realpolitik of contemporary capitalism, and uncover the consequences of the so-called strategies specifically in the realm of welfare and labour policies.