This study analyzes the Turkish case as a model country for the state-building processes in the
Arab world in the aftermath of the Arab revolts that took place in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
To this end, it deals with the Turkish case in three phases: the founding of the Turkish
Republic, political developments until 2002, and the post-2002 Justice and Development
Party period. The study focuses on state-society relations manifested in the form of a secular-religious
cleavage intertwined with problematic civil-military relations. Each phase of
Turkey’s history is compared to cleavages and civil-military relations in Egypt, Tunisia and
Libya. After analyzing the constitution-making processes in the latter three countries
following the Arab revolts, the study concludes by discussing the viability of the Turkish
model in the light of Turkey’s search for a new constitution
