Party discipline problem in the Social Democratic Populist Party

Abstract

The performance of a political party mainly depends on its party organization, ideology and electoral support. In this connection, party discipline can be counted as an independent variable of party performance. However, party discipline may be affected by various factors, such as party structure, political culture, governmental structure. This study examines the anti-disciplinary behaviors and attitudes in the SDPP in 1988-1992 period by giving emphasis to the party structure. In the light of the content analysis of the party discipline cases in the SDPP as appeared in Turkish daily press between 1988-1992, we can classify main sources of violations of party discipline as follows: (a) The leadership struggle; (b) The ideological/factional differentiations; (c) The Kurdish problem.