From political Islam to conservative democracy: the case of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey
Author
Özbudun, E.
Date
2006-12Source Title
South European Society & Politics
Print ISSN
1360-8746
Electronic ISSN
1743-9612
Publisher
Routledge
Volume
11
Issue
3
Pages
543 - 557
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
If one of the most interesting characteristics of the Turkish party system in the 1990s was the rapid rise of political Islam under the banner of the Welfare Party, an equally, perhaps even more, noteworthy development in the early 2000s is its transformation under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) leadership into a moderate conservative democratic party. Various aspects of this transformation are the central focus of this work. The AKP is compared with the earlier Islamist parties in terms of ideology, organization, competitive strategy, and government performance.