Browsing by Subject "Social Democracy"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Open Access
From old to new: a third way or the end of alternative politics? the case of the British Labour Party
(1999) Üçkardeşler, Emre
This thesis critically analyses the ideological transformation of the British Labour Party. Following an investigation of the nature and basic dimensions of party’s conventional ideology, the main focus will be on the fundamental transformation that occurred in the mid 1990s under the leadership of Tony Blair. The thesis argues that contemporary Labour Party does not offer a political vision beyond the new-right, rather its electoral success lies in its reconciliation with the basics of Thatcherism in an era when the Conseiwative Party lost its popularity.
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
Portrait of a Turkish social democrat : İsmail Cem
(2011) Örmeci, Ozan
İsmail Cem (1940-2007) was a Turkish intellectual and social democratic politician who spent his life investigating the characteristics and problems of Turkish modernization and social democratic solutions to these problems. Cem started his career as a peculiar socialist journalist who had a special curiosity towards the Ottoman past in the late 1960s and early 1970s. With his books and articles he became an influential and prestigious figure in the leftist intellectual and political circles and served as the manager of Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT). Unlike usual leftist-modernist intellectuals, he was very critical of “top to bottom” Turkish modernization and had propositions to solve Turkey’s political problems within the limits of democracy. During these years, Cem’s democratic socialism slowly evolved into social democracy. Starting from the 1980s, Cem appeared this time as a social democratic politician and tried to realize his projects and reduce his theories into practice. He was one of the leading figures of Turkish social democracy and was the creator of the “Anatolian Left” together with Deniz Baykal. In the mid-1990s he served for a short time as the Minister of Culture and starting from 1997 -with short interruptions- for five years he worked as the Foreign Minister of Turkey. He continued to write about Turkish politics and foreign policy and left behind an important collection of books and articles. İsmail Cem saw his life’s work as involving basically three tasks: to reconcile Turkey with its Ottoman past by softening the radical modernist mentality of the earlier Republican period both on the intellectual and social levels, to find solutions to Turkey’s various political problems by making a social democratic interpretation of Kemalism and thus, achieving democratic consolidation in Turkey and to transform his country into a respected regional power in international relations by pursuing an active foreign policy through full membership to the European Union as well as by developing relations with Middle Eastern and Eurasian countries. Both as a public intellectual and politician, he was able to take considerable steps in order to realize these three tasks, though he did not have chance to complete his mission. Although he was an important part of the intellectual force behind Turkey’s pro-Western secular segments, we do not know too much about Cem’s personal life and intellectual development throughout the years. This thesis is an attempt to analyze İsmail Cem by focusing on his life, his ideas, his political career, his propositions to Turkey’s major democratic problems and his foreign policy understanding and practices analytically.
Open Access
The transformation of western European social democracy and its reflections on Turkish center-left
(1999) Evcan, Sinan
This master’s thesis is a general overview of the practical and ideological implications of the post-1980 transformation of Western European social democratic parties with specific reference to Britain, Germany and Sweden and the reflections of this transformation on Turkish center-left parties. Within this framework, the roots and developmental trend of Western European Social Democracy have been narrated throughout the first chapter of this study to clarify which social democratic principles and policies have changed during the most recent transformation of these parties. In the following chapters, which concentrate on the post-1980 period, the reasons for the electoral erosion of the Northwestern European social democratic parties during the 1980’s and the way they transformed themselves during the 1990’s to stop the decline have been analysed with reference to societal and economic changes on the one hand and to the strategical and structural changes of the parties on the other. The implications of these changes in terms of the shift in the equality principle and the changing function of pragmatism have been highlighted to draw a main profile of the social democratic transformation often referred to as the “Third Way”. The last part of my study focuses on the common and divergent patterns of the Turkish and Western European center-left, both past and present, and compares the current situation of the so-called social democratic parties in Turkey with those of Western Europe presently being conquered by a la mode Third Way currents.