Pub Date : 2023-05-02DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2023.2208270
Melisa Gündüz, Funda Gençoğlu
{"title":"Dissident women’s organizations as a counter-hegemonic actor in Turkey","authors":"Melisa Gündüz, Funda Gençoğlu","doi":"10.1080/14683849.2023.2208270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2023.2208270","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47071,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Studies","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82128572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-16DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2023.2200941
E. Balta, Seda Demiralp, Selva Demiralp
ABSTRACT This study examines patterns of voter defection from Turkey’s incumbent AKP amid major economic and democratic decline. As in other electoral autocracies, defectors constitute a small but politically significant group in Turkey, where the opposition’s ability to secure a transition from authoritarianism depends on reducing the incumbent’s vote share. Based on survey data gathered in November 2021 and February 2022, we find that while the high level of partizanship among AKP voters hinders defection, persistent economic and democratic decline still reduces incumbent support. We also found that defections are higher outside of the lowest income group. Our findings have important implications for opposition strategies in electoral autocracies. Directing public debate away from identity issues to economic and democratic problems increases the likelihood of defection. In addition, offering voters clear superior alternatives decreases the cost of uncertainty that comes with change and increases the likelihood of defection.
{"title":"Debating voter defection in Turkey","authors":"E. Balta, Seda Demiralp, Selva Demiralp","doi":"10.1080/14683849.2023.2200941","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2023.2200941","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study examines patterns of voter defection from Turkey’s incumbent AKP amid major economic and democratic decline. As in other electoral autocracies, defectors constitute a small but politically significant group in Turkey, where the opposition’s ability to secure a transition from authoritarianism depends on reducing the incumbent’s vote share. Based on survey data gathered in November 2021 and February 2022, we find that while the high level of partizanship among AKP voters hinders defection, persistent economic and democratic decline still reduces incumbent support. We also found that defections are higher outside of the lowest income group. Our findings have important implications for opposition strategies in electoral autocracies. Directing public debate away from identity issues to economic and democratic problems increases the likelihood of defection. In addition, offering voters clear superior alternatives decreases the cost of uncertainty that comes with change and increases the likelihood of defection.","PeriodicalId":47071,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Studies","volume":"22 1","pages":"739 - 763"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89568221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-02DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2023.2197223
Marella Bodur Ün
{"title":"Contestation of the global norm against violence against women in Turkey","authors":"Marella Bodur Ün","doi":"10.1080/14683849.2023.2197223","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2023.2197223","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47071,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Studies","volume":"76 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78996793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-28DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2023.2196020
Sabri Ciftci
ABSTRACT Turkish foreign policy has taken a military turn in recent years. Turkey is now a major arms exporter, it hosts military bases in its neighborhood and beyond, and has engaged in conflicts in Syria and Libya. Scholars have highlighted identity and international system theories to explain the military assertiveness in Turkish foreign policy. This study proposes a domestic economy explanation. It argues that national wealth, a take-off in defence industry, and an alliance of conservative bourgeoisie and political Islamists are the primary drivers of the military turn in foreign policy. Analysis of Turkish economic development and historical trajectories of economic and bureaucratic wings of the defence industry shows that complex business-politics interactions and commercial interests of defence companies propel military assertiveness. This domestic economy framework supplements insights from the identity and international system theories to significantly add to our understanding of the military turn in Turkish foreign policy.
{"title":"Military might: a domestic economy explanation of Turkish foreign policy","authors":"Sabri Ciftci","doi":"10.1080/14683849.2023.2196020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2023.2196020","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Turkish foreign policy has taken a military turn in recent years. Turkey is now a major arms exporter, it hosts military bases in its neighborhood and beyond, and has engaged in conflicts in Syria and Libya. Scholars have highlighted identity and international system theories to explain the military assertiveness in Turkish foreign policy. This study proposes a domestic economy explanation. It argues that national wealth, a take-off in defence industry, and an alliance of conservative bourgeoisie and political Islamists are the primary drivers of the military turn in foreign policy. Analysis of Turkish economic development and historical trajectories of economic and bureaucratic wings of the defence industry shows that complex business-politics interactions and commercial interests of defence companies propel military assertiveness. This domestic economy framework supplements insights from the identity and international system theories to significantly add to our understanding of the military turn in Turkish foreign policy.","PeriodicalId":47071,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Studies","volume":"22 1","pages":"764 - 787"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90181591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-20DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2023.2189592
Paul T. Levin
ABSTRACT It would be an understatement to say that Şerif Mardin’s center-periphery thesis (CPT) has been influential on contemporary understandings of Turkey. This essay reflects on the impact of the CPT, considers the challenges from both critics and a changing empirical reality, and discusses whether it still has something to offer us today. It argues that some of the criticisms levied at Mardin’s thesis are based on a misunderstanding of the role of simplification in social science, while others point to important shortcomings of the theory without presenting an alternative framework. However, the article suggests that the anomalies in the CPT have by now amassed to the point that it no longer serves as a meaningful approximation of key dynamics in Turkish politics, primarily because it fails to capture the importance of the Kurdish issue and the consolidation of the ruling AKP at the center.
{"title":"Reflections on Şerif Mardin’s center-periphery thesis","authors":"Paul T. Levin","doi":"10.1080/14683849.2023.2189592","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2023.2189592","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT It would be an understatement to say that Şerif Mardin’s center-periphery thesis (CPT) has been influential on contemporary understandings of Turkey. This essay reflects on the impact of the CPT, considers the challenges from both critics and a changing empirical reality, and discusses whether it still has something to offer us today. It argues that some of the criticisms levied at Mardin’s thesis are based on a misunderstanding of the role of simplification in social science, while others point to important shortcomings of the theory without presenting an alternative framework. However, the article suggests that the anomalies in the CPT have by now amassed to the point that it no longer serves as a meaningful approximation of key dynamics in Turkish politics, primarily because it fails to capture the importance of the Kurdish issue and the consolidation of the ruling AKP at the center.","PeriodicalId":47071,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Studies","volume":"50 1","pages":"617 - 639"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84201762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-12DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2023.2186784
Birol Yesilada
ABSTRACT The Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002 with the promise of reforms to further democratic consolidation in Turkey. At that time, the AKP represented a rainbow coalition of individuals from the previous Islamist parties and many liberal democrats who were fed up with the failures of old secular political parties. The Turkish public shared their frustrations and overwhelmingly supported the AKP. Unfortunately, these reforms did not last. Today, it is indisputable that under the rule of the AKP, and more specifically, President Recep T. Erdoğan, Turkey has become an authoritarian state defined and shaped by one person. This article explores what these developments mean for the future of Turkish democracy as the country celebrates its centenary, and it includes an examination of whether Turkish political culture is supportive of such changes.
{"title":"The AKP, religion, and political values in contemporary Turkey: implications for the future of democracy","authors":"Birol Yesilada","doi":"10.1080/14683849.2023.2186784","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2023.2186784","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002 with the promise of reforms to further democratic consolidation in Turkey. At that time, the AKP represented a rainbow coalition of individuals from the previous Islamist parties and many liberal democrats who were fed up with the failures of old secular political parties. The Turkish public shared their frustrations and overwhelmingly supported the AKP. Unfortunately, these reforms did not last. Today, it is indisputable that under the rule of the AKP, and more specifically, President Recep T. Erdoğan, Turkey has become an authoritarian state defined and shaped by one person. This article explores what these developments mean for the future of Turkish democracy as the country celebrates its centenary, and it includes an examination of whether Turkish political culture is supportive of such changes.","PeriodicalId":47071,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Studies","volume":"32 1","pages":"593 - 616"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78614525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2023.2182686
Ali Bakir
ABSTRACT This study explores Turkey as a newcomer to Gulf security. It addresses why Turkish decision-makers want Turkey to play an elevated security role in the Gulf. It offers a holistic yet detailed outlook of Turkey’s potential enhanced security role and develops a systematic argument that assesses Ankara's aspiration, will, and capacity to play such a role. Finally, it adopts a comparative perspective to show how the regional actors (Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and Iran) might perceive an enhanced Turkish security role in the Gulf; and where Turkey stands vis-à-vis the capacity of other extra-regional actors (the U.S., China, India, and Russia) concerning Gulf security.
{"title":"Turkey’s security role in the Gulf region: exploring the case of a newcomer","authors":"Ali Bakir","doi":"10.1080/14683849.2023.2182686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2023.2182686","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study explores Turkey as a newcomer to Gulf security. It addresses why Turkish decision-makers want Turkey to play an elevated security role in the Gulf. It offers a holistic yet detailed outlook of Turkey’s potential enhanced security role and develops a systematic argument that assesses Ankara's aspiration, will, and capacity to play such a role. Finally, it adopts a comparative perspective to show how the regional actors (Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and Iran) might perceive an enhanced Turkish security role in the Gulf; and where Turkey stands vis-à-vis the capacity of other extra-regional actors (the U.S., China, India, and Russia) concerning Gulf security.","PeriodicalId":47071,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"809 - 831"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78167845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-28DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2023.2184261
O. Bakiner
ABSTRACT Why do so many regimes remain competitive authoritarian? This article argues that institutional path dependence explains the persistence of competitive authoritarian regimes in which electoral competition exists, but is unfair. The weakness of institutions regulating free and fair interparty competition, like multi-candidate elections, a constitution and statutes safeguarding fundamental rights, and intraparty competition, like intraparty democracy, is path-dependent and self-reinforcing. In settings where competition is partly free and fair, ruling elites have an incentive to combine democratic and undemocratic laws and policies to defeat counterelites and neutralize intraparty competitors. The likely long-term outcome is a vicious cycle of limited democratization, competitive authoritarian regime formation, and competitive authoritarian regime consolidation. I assess the argument by tracing the historical trajectory of reforms on constitutionalism, civil liberties, and multi-candidate competition in post-1950 Turkey, where the limits on interparty and intraparty competition have been reproduced in remarkable historical continuity.
{"title":"Only game in town? the persistence of competitive authoritarian regimes in modern Turkey","authors":"O. Bakiner","doi":"10.1080/14683849.2023.2184261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2023.2184261","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Why do so many regimes remain competitive authoritarian? This article argues that institutional path dependence explains the persistence of competitive authoritarian regimes in which electoral competition exists, but is unfair. The weakness of institutions regulating free and fair interparty competition, like multi-candidate elections, a constitution and statutes safeguarding fundamental rights, and intraparty competition, like intraparty democracy, is path-dependent and self-reinforcing. In settings where competition is partly free and fair, ruling elites have an incentive to combine democratic and undemocratic laws and policies to defeat counterelites and neutralize intraparty competitors. The likely long-term outcome is a vicious cycle of limited democratization, competitive authoritarian regime formation, and competitive authoritarian regime consolidation. I assess the argument by tracing the historical trajectory of reforms on constitutionalism, civil liberties, and multi-candidate competition in post-1950 Turkey, where the limits on interparty and intraparty competition have been reproduced in remarkable historical continuity.","PeriodicalId":47071,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Studies","volume":"18 1","pages":"853 - 881"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85264547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-19DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2023.2178306
K. Kirişci, Aysel Yıldız
ABSTRACT This article explores Turkey’s century-long asylum policies by highlighting two enduring policy considerations. The first is Turkey's process of convergence with the norms and principles of the global refugee regime. The second is the persistent practice of granting refugees protection of a temporary nature. These two policy considerations are discussed by employing the conceptual frameworks of ‘policy diffusion’ and the ‘nationalizing migration state.’ The study concludes that Turkey’s asylum policies have been shaped by the tension between these two policy considerations over the past century.
{"title":"Turkey’s asylum policies over the last century: continuity, change and contradictions","authors":"K. Kirişci, Aysel Yıldız","doi":"10.1080/14683849.2023.2178306","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2023.2178306","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article explores Turkey’s century-long asylum policies by highlighting two enduring policy considerations. The first is Turkey's process of convergence with the norms and principles of the global refugee regime. The second is the persistent practice of granting refugees protection of a temporary nature. These two policy considerations are discussed by employing the conceptual frameworks of ‘policy diffusion’ and the ‘nationalizing migration state.’ The study concludes that Turkey’s asylum policies have been shaped by the tension between these two policy considerations over the past century.","PeriodicalId":47071,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Studies","volume":"54 1","pages":"522 - 549"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80794045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-16DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2023.2179918
Suhnaz Yilmaz
ABSTRACT Turkey's geopolitical position at the intersection of numerous conflict-laden regions has compelled Ankara to prioritize hard security concerns in defining its foreign and domestic policies. While these concerns will maintain their significance, new global threats and opportunities, particularly in energy security, climate change, and sustainability, necessitate a reconceptualization of security. This study posits that this new conceptualization must be more comprehensive by integrating these new challenges into conceptions security. After presenting pressing transformations in the energy security and climate change realm, the critical puzzle that the article will explore is Turkey's main challenges and opportunities in meeting its rapidly increasing energy needs on the one hand and facing mounting climate change and sustainability-related risks on the other. Moreover, the study will examine the domestic and foreign policy implications of these transformations in times of global changes and uncertainties.
{"title":"Facing new security threats in an era of global transformations: Turkey's challenges of energy security, climate change and sustainability","authors":"Suhnaz Yilmaz","doi":"10.1080/14683849.2023.2179918","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2023.2179918","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 Turkey's geopolitical position at the intersection of numerous conflict-laden regions has compelled Ankara to prioritize hard security concerns in defining its foreign and domestic policies. While these concerns will maintain their significance, new global threats and opportunities, particularly in energy security, climate change, and sustainability, necessitate a reconceptualization of security. This study posits that this new conceptualization must be more comprehensive by integrating these new challenges into conceptions security. After presenting pressing transformations in the energy security and climate change realm, the critical puzzle that the article will explore is Turkey's main challenges and opportunities in meeting its rapidly increasing energy needs on the one hand and facing mounting climate change and sustainability-related risks on the other. Moreover, the study will examine the domestic and foreign policy implications of these transformations in times of global changes and uncertainties.","PeriodicalId":47071,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Studies","volume":"95 1","pages":"714 - 738"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90704174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}