The prospect of being a full member in the European Union, Turkey faces deep processes of economical, political and social changes. In order both to examine and to manage these changes it is of fundamental importance to throw a closer view to Turkish politics and economy. The first three chapters provide a detailed study mainly on the political sphere and the transformation in domestic politics to preparatory to European Union integration. The remaining chapters deal with the analysis from the point of view of political economy (e.g. management, tourism, industrialization and foreign trade). The book has been structured in such a way that the readers can also "pick and mix" chapters in response to their interests and needs.

Mainstream economic theories today are logical, consistent and even explanatory in many ways, when their relevance is tested in real economic situations, they often fail to correctly explain normal economic transactions. Thus they are only successful in explaining a fictional world and fictional economic relations that are largely based on unrealistic assumptions. Economic Growth is a study of new and alternative theories and models to replace the parables of these mainstream ideologies and hopes to appeal to open minded economists as a constructive contribution for the further development of new economic ideas.

In an Islamic society, it is ethics that dominates and determines all behavior, including economic behavior. The Holy Koran emerges as the main source of all economic behavior and practices which are subject to the commands of Allah as stated in the Koran. Since Islam is a universal religion, the Islamic economic paradigm with its "scientific" Islamic economic theories has to be comprehensive as well as perfect in the sense of fairness, ethical values and fruitfulness. A universal Islamic economic system ought to have universally applicable economic laws acceptable by both, the Muslim and the non-Muslim world - meaning that when the word Islamic is taken out of the equation; it should appeal to all societies and countries equally, regardless of their religious persuasion. The question now is; do Islamic economics offer such "scientific" economic theories? Surprisingly, there were no such theories at all. In fact, there was not even a theory of interest, the most frequently referred to subject in Islamic economics. This appeared to be a serious omission. The Holy sources may be more than sufficient for Muslims, but what about non-Muslims? Isn't it justified to expect Islamic "scientific" economic models and theories that are applicable to or able to guide non-Muslims?