NEOLIBERALISM, TECHNOCRACY AND NATIONAL ISLAMISM: THE GÜLEN MOVEMENT

Abstract

What has become known as the Gülen movement has grown considerably over the past 20 years. Defined as a transnational movement to help civil society, it is based on the ideas of the Muslim theologist Fethullah Gülen, who is of Turkish nationality. His work in the community (which has its nucleus in Turkey) has spread as far as Central Asia, the Far East, North and South America, the Balkans and even to some countries in Africa. On one hand, it forms part of the phenomenon of the neo-brotherhoods inspired by Sufism, but on the other, because of the nationalist and neoliberal ideology it champions, it is linked with the main tendencies of “national Islam” that opposes radical “internationalist Islamism”.

Keywords

• Gülen
• neoliberal Islamism
• Turkey
• neo-brotherhood