Based on Professor Özbudun's lectures at Bilkent University, this book is at oncecompact, highly readable, and very insightful. Unlike much current literature on Turkey, theanalysis is set in a broad and informed comparative context. Turkey, the author points out, hasbeen left out of comparative political studies, particularly those encompassing the Middle East andsouthern Europe, in which arguably it could (or should) have been included. Scholarly neglectthus reflects real-world politics: Turkey falls between two worlds, one of which it once largelycontrolled, the other to which it currently aspires to belong. This lacuna is one of the factors thatpersuaded Özbudun to publish this volume.