Browsing by Subject "Political parties--Turkey."

Now showing 1 - 13 of 13

Open Access
Coalition governments in Turkey: "Office-Seeking or Policy-Pursuing?" A structural approach
(1996) Başköy, Tuna
This study examines Turkish coalition government experiences to find answer to the question of whether they were office-seeking coalitions or policyoriented ones. Accordingly, the theoretical framework is proposed to investigate all aspects of the coalitions during the fonnation and maintenance stages. Situational, compatibility, and motivational variables are taken into account as the factors that influence the composition of the coalitions, their duration and success. Four European country experiences are elaborated briefly so as to show significance of the party system for coalition building and coalition success. After the application of these three variables to the Turkish coalition experiences distribution of seats among the coalition partners and common problems that they faced are also elucidated with reference to the composition of coalitions.
Open Access
The Crisis of representation in Southern Europe : Gezi Park protests and 15m movement in comparative perspective
(2015) Geyikçi, Şebnem Yardımcı
By analysing two different cases of popular movements in Turkey (the Gezi Park protests) and Spain (the 15M movement) that received extensive support from different segments of society in both countries, this research aims at accounting for the question of what factors brought about popular disaffection and led to mass mobilisations under different circumstances. The contention is that one of the central factors behind these mass protests has been “the crisis of representation” resulting not only from the lack of voterparty congruence, but also from the failure of political parties to meet the demands of responsiveness and responsibility – the core requisite of the party government model.
Open Access
Electoral systems and their political consequences. A special case: Turkey
(1995) Çakırözer, Utku
Recent debates and comments in the Turkish mass media, especially after the last municipal elections-i.e. after the unexpected victory of the religious-based Welfare Party (RP) and the failure of the centre parties-are concentrated on the need of a new electoral system. However, there does not exist a consensus between the main actors, political parties. While some believe that the country needs an electoral system which will bring governability, stability and order, some others insist on the importance of full proportionality of an electoral system. Accordingly, in this study, the electoral systems theory is described. That is, history, categorisation, operation and political consequences of electoral systems are elaborated. Next, the historical development and implications of electoral systems in Turkey are observed. Of course, the debates that took place in times of electoral reform-including the recent ones- are studied in depth. Finally, the limited number of electoral reform alternatives and related discussions are introduced.
Open Access
The left of center politics in Turkey: the Republican People`s Party 1965-1980
(1998) Oktay, Ahmet Metin
This thesis analyzes the left of center politics implemented by the Republican People’s Party (RPP) in Turkey from 1965 to 1980 in an emprical and historical context. The adoption of left of center stance, the attendant conceptual confusion, the unceasing intra-party competition for power, the social democratic discourse and certainly the elections and the electorate will be discussed along with domestic and foreign affairs as well as the socioeconomic transformation of the particular period.
Open Access
The making and the crisis of Turkish social democracy: Roots, discourses and strategies
(1999) Kahraman, Hasan Bülent
The making and the crisis of social democracy in Turkey has a structural and historical context. It is also an agent of Turkish political modernisation which is an authoritarian one. In this sense it is interrelated with the constitutive ideology and the parameters of Turkey's hegemonic state discourse, namely Kemalism. The condition faced by Turkish social democracy is an outcome of the crisis of modernity started in the 1980s and in the 1990s, under such influences as postmodernism and globalisation. In order to reach the deep causes of the crisis the analysis develops both on the vertical and horizontal axis, the first encompassing the internal and the latter encircling the external conditions. As the main cause of the crisis is assumed to be the nationalist, parochial character of Turkish social democracy, and its inability in getting adopted to the new emerging conditions, the thesis, as a conclusion, develops a prospective approach drawing on the recent theories that has helped the upheaval of this political ideology in West-European countries.
Open Access
Parliamentary oppositions in Turkey: oppositional trends of parlimentary parties (1960-1980)
(1996) Soner, B. Ali
The present study is an attempt to reveal the main policy tendencies held by the opposition parties of the TGNA between the period 1960 and 1980. Especially due to the unfavorable political culture and legal structure of Turkish politics, the political parties of the pre-1960 employed a regime- oriented tendency for the further liberalization of the political system. The program-based competition of the opposition behavior started only after the establishment of a liberal political system which was introduced by the authorities of the military intervention of 1960. In this framework, the increase and eventual decrease of the program-based opposition, in terms of the policy formulation attempts of the parliamentary political parties was discussed. In this study, it is also intended to determine the factors stemming from the nature of political parties or political system, including party system. Constitutional structure, electoral law, parliamentary procedures, which are influential in determining the opposition behavior in Turkish politics.
Open Access
Political party elites and the breakdown of democracy: the Turkish case,1973-1980
(1998) Demirel, Tanel
This study aims to analyze the behavior of Turkish political party elites during the 1973-1980 period. It is particularly concerned with the extent to which political party elites seemed to have contributed to the breakdown of Turkish democracy in 1980. It starts from the assumption that breakdown of democracies is not determined by structural factors alone, however important they might be. Political actors, particularly those who professed commitment to a democratic regime, have a space for manuevre so as to lessen the unfavourable effects of these structures. It is argued that trials and tribulations of the Turkish democracy can be understood better if they are examined within the broader social-political framework in which it evolved, a framework which has both generated constraints and provided opportunities for political actors. At its simplest, that broader framework can be said to have consisted of the complex encounter and interaction of Ottoman-Turkish strong state tradition and traditional social structure undergoing modernisation process. It is concluded that, although the interaction in question did not create particularly favourable soil for democracy to flourish, it certainly did not mean that democracy was doomed to fail in the 1980. Political party elites did have room for manuevre so as to affect the constraining conditions and to enhance the efficacy, effectiveness and therefore legitimacy of the democratic regime. The principal argument of the thesis is that political party elites, far from taking such a course of action, through their actions and non-actions -particularly their reactions to problem of terrorism and economic crisishave done much to undermine the belief in the democratic system and paved the way to its breakdown in 1980.
Open Access
Rethinking the DLP : analysis of the 1999 election campaign
(2001) Doğan, Hale
This thesis examines the stance of the DLP and the factors that led the DLP to the top of the Turkish political scene in the 18 April 1999 elections. While the DLP’s stance is explained with a new kind of ideological position that can be termed ‘center-left nationalism’, the rise of the DLP in the elections is mostly explained by the conjuncture of the pre-election period. The study also examines the history and structure of the DLP, and the corruption in Turkish politics.
Open Access
Rethinking the Turkish center-right in 1990s: erosion or replacement? The case of the Nationalist Action Party
(2001) Gözüküçük, Yusuf
Looking at the results of the elections in Turkey in the 1990s, it can be seen that there has been a continuing decrease in the votes of the traditional Turkish centerright parties such as the Motherland Party (MP) and the True Path Party (TPP) while a converse situation has been observed in the case of extreme right parties such as the Nationalist Action Party (NAP) and the Welfare Party (WP). Another striking point about the voter alignments in Turkey during the last decade has been that no party has been the first party in successive elections. These developments led to the questions about whether the Turkish center is eroding, or the extreme right parties are coming to the center. The aim of this thesis is to attempt to clarify the case of Turkish center-right in the last decade in the sense whether there has been a shift in the center-right votes with the erosion of the center or replacement of the center right is taking place, with special emphasis on the case of the Nationalist Action Party. This thesis argues that there has been erosion in the Turkish center-right in the last decade and the NAP obtained some votes from the traditional center-right voters, while maintaining its own voter basis. This study offers explanations for the erosion of the traditional Turkish center-right together with the rise of the NAP in recent years both as a political party and as a political movement
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Rethinking the Welfare Party : analysis of the 1991 election campaign
(1999) Alemdaroğlu, Ayça
This thesis is an attempt to reconsider the Welfare Party- WP on the basis of its 1991 election campaign. The thesis introduces the Welfare Party from a historical point of view, considering the party as a continuum of a tradition in the Turkish political thought. Based on the picture drawn from the analysis of the texts of the 1991 campaign, the thesis tries to discover the constituents of the discourse of the party. In doing so it is attempted to interpret the WP by enlarging the limits of the interpretative hermeneutic circle shaped around the blueprints of laicist-Kemalist perspective. The conceptualisation of 'alternative modernities' as well as social and political thought of Ziya Gokalp is employed in rethinking the WP
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The Role and influence of "Nationalist Action Party" in Turkish political life
(1999) Arslan, Emre
This thesis is an attempt to explain and explore the role and influence of Nationalist Action Party (МНР) in Turkish political life. This study examines the rise of МНР in recent years both as a political party and as a political movement. For this reason, MHP’s role and influence is evaluated in terms of its origins, history, strategies and ideologies. Fruthermore, the changing role and influence of the party is assesed within the context of changing historical conditions. In this period, a crises of dominant ideologies has influenced the rise of МНР and its ideology. Kemalism, which is deemed as the official ideology of Turkish state and society throughout the history of Republic, has been challenged by Islamist movements and Kurdish nationalism in 1990s. Furthermore, the New Right as the hegemonic ideology of 1980s has lost its appeal and employed an extreme nationalist discourse to a great extent in recent years. In the ideological climate of 1990s, which is strongly influenced by competing, intermixing and changing nationalisms, the МНР nationalism has become a rising and influential ideology by articulating the dominant ideologies. Within the framework of above argument, this study adresses the changing ideology and political strategies of the МНР.
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Social democracy in Turkey in a comparative setting
(1998) Sancar, Malike Selcuk
This dissertation is a systematic in-depth analysis of social democracy in Turkey, with particular reference to Western Europe. The research develops a framework for the analysis of social democracy in Western Europe and Turkey in a comparative setting. Whereas the origins and development of the social democratic parties in Western Europe have been explored in the formative phase of the Industrial society in Europe, the birth and the evolution of Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP) have been scrutinised in the First Turkish Republic, as grounding to the structural conjuncture prevailing within the relevant cases. Accordingly, the analysis of the social democratic parties in these polities have been carried out on the basis of ideology, social basis of support, strategy and organisation respectively. Therefrom, the status of social democracy in Turkey is evaluated while holding the Western European case as the reference. In this context, the extent to which Turkish social democracy diverges from the homeland of social democracy has been elucidated.
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Transformation of the Turkish religious right with focus on the impact of state elites, globalization and Europeanization
(2012) Köni, Hakan
This dissertation is aims to analyze the change of Turkish religious right from National View parties to the Justice and Development Party in its goal and issue orientation in terms of the importance given to religion, and the influence of state elites, globalization and Europeanization in this process. This analysis will become possible with the help of a set of theoretical approaches offered to explain the causes and nature of party change particularly those of them examining the role of environmental changes in the change of party ideology or policy. Based on a detailed examination of the views and policies of relevant parties on issues of foreign policy and domestic politics, it is observed that Turkish religious right has evolved from a conservative religious movement with occasional radical tendencies to a moderate conservative one. The impact of state elites in this change is detected to be related with their secularist conception and applications which could be explained in short as opposition to the presence of religion in public life in substantial ways. Globalization and Europeanization, secondly, is explored to be associated with the process with the strong propensity and willingness they bring in to religious right towards the adoption and promotion of western political, economic and cultural norms, principles and institutions, and establishment of deeper and closer relations with the west. In foreign policy, the movement has shown a gradual shift from a substantially culturalist to a pragmatist and rational approach. While the National View parties followed a foreign policy program defending the necessity of establishing close ties with the Muslim world and minimizing relations with the West; the Justice and Development Party is with the idea of leading Turkey into a process of greater integration and cooperation with the west. The JDP has not turned its back to the Muslim world, but concerns for political, legal and social reforms have started to occupy a more important place in its Middle East agenda compared to traditional cultural concerns. In domestic politics, secondly, the most remarkable change is detected in transition from a succession of parties aiming to introduce Islamic norms and principles in public life to a party aiming to introduce rights and freedoms for its conservative electorate through the mechanisms provided by liberal democratic systems with clear detachment from the goal of introducing Islamic law and state.