Begüm Adalet, "Hotels and Highways: The Construction of Modernization Theory in Cold War Turkey" (Stanford UP, 2018)

episode

New Books in American Studies not yet transcribed

▲ 0

Transcript

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet Upvotes decide what gets transcribed next — 0 so far. Sign in to upvote

More from New Books in American Studies

Lucas L. Johnson II, "Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World" (Broadleaf Books, 2026) 44 min · 09 Sep 2026

Michelle Adams, "The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North " (FSG, 2025) 1h 4m · 09 Sep 2026

Claudia Verhoeven, "Love and Terror: The Helter-Skelter History of the Manson Murders" (Verso, 2026) 1h 3m · 08 Sep 2026

Terry Kirby, "The Newsmongers: A History of Tabloid Journalism" (Reaktion Books, 2024) 51 min · 20 Dec 2025

All episodes from New Books in American Studies →

Report any issue

Source

Recorded08 Jun 2020

Publisherfeeds.megaphone.fm

Handlerec:4813507

Show notes

During the opening decades of the Cold War, US policymakers and academics used modernization theory to provide an alternative model to communism for improving living standards. As Begüm Adalet demonstrates, Turkey was both a model case of elite-led modernization and a laboratory for development projects that could then be exported to other societies. Through her analysis of the flow of aid money and expertise between the US and Turkey, the planning of the American-funded Turkish highway network, and the development of the Turkish tourism industry, Adalet highlights how the production of social scientific knowledge is fundamentally entwined with the problems of political order: social scientific theories are produced in material space, through uncertain encounters between transnational actors and policy networks. Furthermore, her examinations of the works and career trajectories of figures like political scientist Dankwart Rustow and sociologist Daniel Lerner show how the political and ideological imperatives of US foreign policy shape social scientific knowledge production, even as the figures involved may express doubts about the feasibility of political projects and initiatives. Hotels and Highways: The Construction of Modernization Theory in Cold War Turkey (Stanford University Press, 2018) invites political scientists, development economists, and other social scientists involved in the study of the Global South to reflect on how geopolitical power imbalances and hegemonic projects affect the production of social scientific knowledge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.