Political Parties And Democracy In Turkey

Since the establishment in 1945 of a constitutional democracy, political parties have figured prominently in Turkish politics. This book, first published in 1991, examines the role they have played. Key features of the political culture of the Turkish republic have created dilemmas for multi-party democracy: Atatürkism still exerts a powerful influence on the country’s bureaucratic and military elites. With their notion of ‘responsible leadership’ and of democracy as rational intellectual debate in pursuit of the ‘best’ policy, they have expected an unrealistic degree of idealism and statesmanlike behaviour from the leaders of political parties. Three times, in 1960, 1971 and 1980, the military has intervened in politics – on the third occasion to undertake wholesale constitutional and legal restructuring aimed at producing ‘sensible’ politicians. Given these ambiguous circumstances, what role have the political parties themselves played in the promotion and functioning of democracy in Turkey, and what are their attitudes to the issues involved? This collection of essays discusses political parties since the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923 until the 1990s. With contributions from leading political scientists and historians of modern Turkey, it is indispensable reading for all those concerned with the country.

Turkey's growing international profile, candidacy for the EU, and persistent democracy has led to a growing interest in how that country is governed. This book provides portraits of the seven main political parties by Turkish experts who are close observers of these institutions. In addition to providing an analytical survey of Turkish politics today, this volume also provides a fascinating case study on the problems of developing deep-rooted democracy, conflicts between state interests amd interest groups, and the evolution of party systems.

CHAPTER 1: DEVEWPMENT OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN TURKEY: CRISES, INTERRUPTIONS AND REEQUILIBRATIONS by Ergun Özbudun 1 The Development of Representative and Democratic Government The Ottoman Empire 2 The First Ottoman Parliament 6 The Second Constitutionalist Period (1908-1918) 8 The National Liberation Period (1918-1923) 9 The Consolidation ofthe Republic 11 Transition to MuJtiparty Politics and the Democratic Party Period 14 Turkey' s Second T ry at Democracy (1961-1980) 19 The 1980 Coup and the 1982Constitution 25 Return to Competitive Politics and the1983 Elections 28 An Appraisal 30 Theoretical Analysis 31 Political CuJture 31 Historical Development 35 Class Structure 36 State Structure and Strength 38 Political Structure 41 Political Leadershlp 43 Development Performance 43 International Factors 44 Future Prospects and Policy Implications 45 Policies Promotlng the Growth of Clv/I Soc/ety 45 Policies Promotlng Governmental Stabll/ty and Efticleney 47 Policies Promotlng Economlc Growth and Equity 49 Conclusion 51 Notes CHAPTER 2: STAGES OF POLlTICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE TURKISH REPUBLIC by İlter Turan 59 The Consolidation of the Nation State and the Evalution of an Infrastructure for PoliticalCompetition 61 The Consolidation of the Political System 61 The Transition to Competitive Politics 64 The Democratic Party Period: The Failure of the First Turkish Experiment with Political Democracy 72 The Legacy of the Single Party 73 The Political Consequences of Economic Pol/cies 76 Growing Authoritarianism of the Democratic Party 79 The First Turkish Democraey: An Appraisal 81 The Reconstruction of the Turkish Democracy and Us Second Demise 83 The Parties and the Party System 86 The Governments 88 The Legislature and Legislators 89 The Decline of the Bureaucracy 92 The Second Turkish Democratic Experiment: An Appraisal 94 The Turkish Attempts at Democracy: Some Basic Problem s 95 The Primacy of the Collectivity 96 The Primacy of Polities 97 Political Elitism 100 The Cost of Being out of Power 103 Concluding Remarks 106 Notes 108 CHAPTER 3: POST-1980 PARTI ES AND POLITICS IN TURKEY by Üstün Ergüder 113 Maladies of the Party System During the 1980s 117 V olatility 117 Fragmentation 119 Polarization 122 The 1983 Election 126 Post-1983 Developments: The Dilemmas of the Party System 129 The 1987 Eleetion: "Reinstatement or Reform" Revisited 133 Notes 141 CHAPTER 4 THE GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE POST-1983 MULTI-PAR1Y ERA by Ersin Kalaycıoğlu 147 Introduction 149 The Process of Legislative Institutionalization and the Turkish Grand National Assembly 155 The House Rules and Norms: The Rules of Procedure in the TGNA 157 Procedural Rules Conceming the House Activities ot the Legislators 159 Politicaı Parties in the TGNA 164 Party Discipline in the TGNA 166 Legislative Activities and the Party Groups in the TGNA 169 The Commission Structure and Activity in the TGNA 175 Conclusion 181 Notes 184 CHAPTER 5: HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RULE OF LAW by Ergun Özbudun 193 The Rule of Law under the Constitution of 1982 196 Human Rights 198 The Independence ot the Judiciary 202 The Constitutional Court and Judicial Review ot the Constitutionality ot Laws 203 Turkeyand the International Protectionot Human Rights 206 Notes 209.

This book explores the roots of the decline of democracy and the rise of hegemonic parties in Turkey, by comparing the Justice and Development Party (AKP) with other comparable cases throughout the world. Offering a novel analysis in the rise of hegemonic parties, this book incorporates the analysis of state-society relations and institutionalist approaches. A hegemonic party is a single political party that dominates the scene in multi-party elections for extended periods of time. Focusing on the cases of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Russia and other countries through the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe, the book proves that hegemony building is possible through the combination of societal and institutional factors at the individual, local, and national levels. Multilingual comparative content analysis, rigorous statistical tests, and in-depth elite-level interviews support this theory, based on an extensive fieldwork analysis. Analysing contemporary as well as historical cases of hegemonic parties, the volume will be of interest to researchers and students in a broad range of areas including democratization, political parties and Turkish politics.

Since the founding of the modern Turkish republic in 1923, Turkey's political leaders have been decisive in shaping the development of their country's democratic patterns and processes. Beginning with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Political Leaders and Democracy in Turkey analyzes the origins, political careers, beliefs, and policies of eleven of modern-day Turkey's most influential leaders. The chapters offer a unique perspective into the complex and fascinating world of Turkish political leadership and the transition to, and consolidation of, democracy. This crucial addition to Turkish studies and comparative politics is the first book to undertake a systematic study of the role political leaders have played in shaping the successes, as well as the shortcomings, of Turkey's grand democratic experiment.

Although the literature on party politics has significantly advanced both methodologically and theoretically in recent years, the study of political parties in Turkey has been noticeably disconnected and lacking from such conversations. This book evaluates well-established theories and trends in existing party politics literature and relates them to the case of Turkey. It explores fundamental questions such as: Who controls party organizations and how does the locus of control change over time? What kinds of power struggles are observed inside a party and between whom? What do the present and past records of party membership imply for party organizations? What role do grassroots activists play in local and national politics? How do the ideological orientations of party members differ from party leaders and other voters? What types of social cleavages shape political parties and how do they change over time? What constitutes the relationship between the state and parties today? Who finances political parties and what does this imply about the quality of democracy? How and why do party systems change? The various chapters show that party politics in the Turkish context is significantly different to Western and new democracies. By highlighting the significant contribution the Turkish case can make to existing conceptual frameworks and theories, this book will be a valuable resource for anyone studying political parties, party systems and comparative politics, as well as Turkish politics.

The Turkish party system has undergone significant changes since the 1940s, moving from a two-party system to one encompassing nineteen parties - and resulting in a highly fragmented parliament. The contributors to this volume assess the intertwined effects of party fragmentation and voter volatility in Turkey. Presenting a wealth of data, they illuminate the trajectory of democratic consolidation, as well as underlying issues of representation, participation, and govern-ability.

Although Turkey began its transition to democracy as early as the 1950s, it is still far from having reached a level of consolidated democracy with the country's sixty-year history of democratic politics being punctuated by numerous breakdowns and restorations of democracy. In an attempt to examine why consolidation of Turkish democracy has taken so long, this book aims at analyzing various factors including state, political parties, civil society, civil-military relations, socio-economic development, the EU as an international actor and the rise of internal threats (political Islam and separatist Kurdish nationalism) that both hinder and enhance democratic consolidation in Turkey. By highlighting the strengths and shortcomings of the Turkish experience from these perspectives, this book suggests the optimal policy priorities for current and future Turkish governments to establish a consolidated democracy in Turkey. Contributors: Muge Aknur, Canan Aslan-Akman, Filiz Baskan, Gulgun Erdogan-Tosun, Siret Hursoy, Aysegul Komsuoglu, Gul M. Kurtoglu-Eskisar, Yesim Kustepeli, Nazif Mandaci, Ibrahim Saylan, & Ugur Burc Yildiz.