What is the general principle of decision taking in the Gülen Movement?

Fethullah Gülen

In voluntary services and project-networks a large number of participants gather together in a single or different places and collectively undertake an interchange or consensus on new projects. All alternative actions and considerations are explicitly discussed and any decision is concluded by all participants as a whole. Collective decisions are taken either through consensus or voting.

Organizational forms can therefore be considered to be a strategic choice made by the service-network on the basis of the principles and goals of the Gülen Movement. Within the thought and action of the Gülen Movement, organizational form and choices are not made by leaders, but by collective social power.

This general principle of decision taking in the Gülen Movement is very different from the process in a cadre-type organization. Cadre-type organizations are more fragile and temporary, highly absorbing, smaller in scale and less democratic than a mass membership organization such as Hizmet.