ABSTRACT: This presentation will offer an introduction to questions of contemporary politics, economy, and society in Turkey. With its strategic position between an integrating but stagnant Europe and a Middle East experiencing the Arab Spring, an assurgent economy drive comparable to China, Brazil and India, and the stunning rise of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkey has become the nation in the Mediterranean region to watch. As it becomes increasingly indifferent to the offer of European membership, and assertive as regards its allegedly "neo-Ottoman" ambitions, Turkey continues to embody the tensions and contradictions of a society between East and West: no more so than in the paradigmatic global city of Istanbul -- by far now Europe's biggest and most dynamic city. We will consider the reasons for Turkey's economic success, the threats and conflicts it faces, and options for its future.