The new issue of TÜSİAD GÖRÜŞ Magazine dealt with the topic of "Bourgeoisie"

The new issue of TÜSIAD GÖRÜŞ magazine dealt with the topic of bourgeoisie. The cover slogan of the magazine was “To Be Bourgeois in Turkey” and it included articles on the various aspects of the subject.

Prof. Ahmet İnsel, Lecturer at Galatasaray University contributed to the cover theme with an article titled “The Adventure of the Bourgeoisie in Turkey”. Prof İnsel discussed the historical roots of bourgeoisie in Turkey and inquired into causes of the differing perception of recent years. Prof. Murat Belge from the Bilgi University assessed the relationship between bourgeoisie and the culture. Prof. E. Fuat Keyman, Director of the Istanbul Policy Center and Lecturer at the Sabancı University considered the new middle classes as the agents of the transformation process in Turkey. Prof. Hakan Yılmaz, Lecturer at Boğaziçi University focused on the relationship of middle classes and democracy with his article titled “What Do Represent the Middle Classes”.

Ms. Ümit Boyner, President of the Board of Directors of TÜSİAD contributed to the cover topic with her article titled “To Act According to the Rational Codes, Not the Cultural Ones”. Ms. Boyner assessed the new situation of the middle classes. Ms. Boyner stated her points as follows:

“In the developing countries, the people who achieve middle class income and status by means of, say, a good education are losing ground. New middle classes, entrepreneurs, bourgeoisie, who are successful in the markets, who get richer and who therefore constitute a new social wave are becoming stronger and more prominent.

“As underlined in the articles of both Prof İnsel and Prof Yılmaz, this struggle coincides with different sets of cultural codes in Turkey. The conflict of interest may be put forward as a cultural conflict. While the true fault line in the business community should be registered vs. unregistered economy, an uncalled-for division “Green Capital vs. Istanbul Capital” becomes the framework of both cultural and political conflicts.”

Ms. Boyner argues in her article that as the modernization of Turkey progresses, rational codes of operation, management and decision making will replace the cultural codes and concludes as follows:

“Then, the transparency, accountability, respect to the rights of property, supremacy of law, judicial independence / impartiality will be more central concepts of the democracy in Turkey. These concepts will frame the struggles, the importance of the separation of powers and the mechanisms of checks and balances will be better understood and more strongly adopted. I believe that the value of TÜSİAD’s struggle for these principles will also be better understood then.”

The new issue of the GÖRÜŞ magazine includes also a special section on the USA Presidential elections, with articles evaluating the USA elections with reference to the internal dynamics, global economy and global security.