The Emergence Of Social Democracy In Turkey

The Republican People's Party (RPP), also know as the CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi), stands as the main opposition party - one of two major political currents, second only to the Erdooan's AK Party. Established as the founding party of Ataturk's republican regime, the RPP has a history of hostility of leftist parties. Despite this, by the mid-1960s, the RPP had re-orientated itself as left of centre, as the growing influence of the left inside the RPP pushed it in a new direction. This is hailed as the entry point of social democratic politics into Turkey, and is the focus of Yunus Emre's impressively researched book. Through extensive primary research, Emre tracks the fluctuations in Turkish politics from the single-party period to the making of a new regime following the 1960 coup, looking at the place of both the RPP and the left in this trajectory. The RPP's internal struggles in this period, in particular around the working class movement and the legal right to strike, debates over anti-imperialism and land reform, and the role of the military in politics provide the political context into which a new social democratic agenda emerged. Engaging with the body of literature on social democratic movements, Emre analyses the reasons for the 'delayed' emergence of social democracy in Turkey. He argues that the absence of European style social democratic formations in Turkey can be traced back to the developments around the adoption of a left of centre position by the RPP. From the 1960s to the present, the RPP has oscillated between a social democratic position and its Kemalist roots in the early republican single-party regime - this book analyses the fundamental point of change in this process. It is essential reading for scholars of Turkish politics and modern history, providing insight into the development of Turkey's founding political party, the left and social democratic movements.

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.

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.

Explains the social, economic, and historical origins of the ruling Justice and Development Party, offering keen insight into one of the most successful transformations of an Islamic movement in the Muslim world.

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.

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.