Abstract:
This study seeks to address the impact of the physical education policies in the formative years of the Turkish Republic for the process of nation building. Arguing that one-party systems possess a number of distinguishing features with respect to the formation of social life, the study then turns its focus to an analysis of the views of Ziya Gökalp, the prominent intellectual progenitor of Turkish sociology. In so doing, it draws important parallels on prevailing discourses during the Second Constitutional Period and early Republican era. The following chapter elaborates on the nature of the authoritarian regimes in Europe in the interbellum era that provides clues for a comparative analysis with that of the Turkish case. The Law on Physical Education promulgated in 1938, comes under scrutiny in this regard to find the peculiarities of the example of Turkey. Seen in this light, this law reveals the mentality prevailing among the Kemalist elite. The last part of this work expands on the successes and failures of the Law on Physical Education by way of looking at the implementation of this law. In this frame of mind, the inputs of the press and sport clubs are also under examination.
