Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Authoritarian Tendencies versus Democratization: Evidence from Turkey

  • Chapter
Authoritarianism in the Middle East

  • 695 Accesses

Abstract

Democracy means much more than elections and institutions. At its most basic level, it is predicated on the diffusion of power within government and society. In a democratic regime, power is shared among different branches to ensure that no one branch becomes too powerful. Checks and balances are necessary to prevent the accumulation of power and to ensure healthy competition among the legislative and executive branches and an independent judiciary. In this context, the government is accustomed to the presence of an opposition and government leaders are conscious that they enjoy a temporary hold on power. However, a democracy also requires that power be distributed among civil society, the media, trade unions and other institutions to ensure that they are independent of state control. In this context, all ethnic and religious groups, genders or social classes are included in political life because democracy requires all members of society to have individual and political rights and it requires the protection of those rights (Haass, 2003, pp. 139–140).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aknur, M. (2012) “The Impact of Civil-Military Relations on Democratic Consolidation in Turkey,” in Democratic Consolidation in Turkey (Ed. Müge Aknur). Boca Raton, FL: Universal Publishers, pp. 203–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Almond, G.A., and S. Verba (1963) The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aslan Akman, C. (2012) “Democratic Consolidation and Institutional Challenges for Political Parties and the Party System in Turkey,” in Democratic Consolidation in Turkey (Ed. Müge Aknur). Boca Raton, FL: Universal Publishers, pp. 143–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belge, M. (2011) Militarist Modernleşme. Istanbul: İletişim.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birand, M.A., and S. Yalçın (2007) The Özal, Bir Davanın Öyküsü. Istanbul: Doğan Kitap.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bozarslan, H. (2002) “Kürd Milliyetciligi ve Kürt Hareketi,” in Modern Türkiye’de Siyasi Düsünce, Milliyetcilik. (Eds. Tanıl Bora, Murat Gültekingil), Istanbul: İletişim, pp. 841–871.

    Google Scholar 

  • Celasun, M., and D. Rodrik (1989) “Turkish Economic Development: An Overview,” in Developing Country Debt and Economic Performance, vol. 3, Country Studies — Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Turkey (Eds J.D. Sachs, S.M. Collins). Chicago: University of Chicago, pp. 617–629.

    Google Scholar 

  • Çiçek, C. (2011) “Elimination or Integration of Pro-Kurdish Politics: Limits of the AKP’s Democratic Initiative,” Turkish Studies, 12 (1), pp. 15–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cizre-Sakallıoğlu, U. (1997) “The Anatomy of the Turkish Military’s Political Autonomy,” Comparative Politics, 29 (2), pp. 151–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dağı, I.D. (2001) “Human Rights, Democratization and the European Community in Turkish Politics: The Özal Years, 1983–87,” Middle Eastern Studies, 37 (1), pp. 17–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahl, R.A. (1971) Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demirel, T. (2004a) “Soldiers and Civilians: The Dilemma of Turkish Democracy,” Middle Eastern Studies, 40 (1), pp. 127–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demirel, T. (2004b) “Turk Silahli Kuvvetleri’nin Toplumsal Mesruiyeti Uzerine,” in Bir Zumre, Bir Parti Turkiye’de Ordu (Eds A. Insel, A. Bayramoğlu). Istanbul: Birikim, pp. 345–381.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demirel, T. (2010) “2000’li yillarda asker ve siyaset,” SETA Analiz, 2010. Available from: http://arsiv.setav.org/Ups/dosya/13749.pdf [accessed 1 September 2012].

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, L.J. (1993) “Introduction: Political Culture and Democracy,” in Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Countries (Ed. L. Diamond). Boulder, CO, and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, pp. 1–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, L.J. (2002) “Thinking about Hybrid Regimes,” Journal of Democracy, 13 (2), pp. 21–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eroğul, C. (1998) “Çok Partili Düzenin Kuruluşu: 1945–71,” in Geçiç Sürecinde Türkiye (Eds I.C. Schick, E.A. Tonak). Istanbul: Belge Yayınları, pp. 112–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ertekin, O.G. (2011) Yargı Meselesi Hallolundu. Ankara: Epos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gülalp, H. (2001) “Globalisation and Political Islam: The Social Bases of Turkey’s Welfare Party,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 33 (3), pp. 433–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Güney, A., and F. Başkan (2008) “Party Dissolution and Democratic Consolidation: The Turkish Case,” South European Society and Politics, 13 (3), pp. 263–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gürsoy, Y. (2012) “The Changing Role of the Military in Turkish Politics: Democratization through Coup Plots?” Democratization, 19 (4), pp. 735–760.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Güven, D. (2009) 6-7 Eylül Olayları. Istanbul: İletişim.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haass, R.N. (2003) “Toward Greater Democracy in the Muslim World,” The Washington Quarterly, 26 (3), pp. 137–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hale, W. (1994) Turkish Politics and the Military. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hale, W. (2002) “Democracy and the Party System in Turkey,” in Turkish Transformations, New Century New Challenges (Ed. Brian Breely). Cambridge, UK: Eothen Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hale, W. (2005) “Christian Democracy and the AKP: Parallels and Contrasts,” Turkish Studies, 6 (2), pp. 293–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hasan, M. (2012) “In Turkey the Right to Free Speech Is Being Lost,” The Guardian, 10 June. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/10/turkey-free-speech-erdogan-crackdown [accessed 1 January 2013].

    Google Scholar 

  • Heper, M. (2005) “The Justice and Development Party Government and the Military in Turkey,” Turkish Studies, 6 (2), pp. 215–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heper, M., and E.F. Keyman (1998) “Double-faced State: Political Patronage and the Consolidation of Democracy in Turkey,” Middle Eastern Studies, 34 (4), pp. 259–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heper, M., and J.M. Landau (1991) Political Parties and Democracy in Turkey. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heper, M., and B. Rubin (2002) Political Parties in Turkey. London: Frank Cass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R. (1990) Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Countries. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inkeles, A., and L. Diamond (1980) “Personal Qualities as a Reflection of Level of National Development,” in Comparative Studies in the Quality of Life (Eds F. Andrews, A. Szalai). London: Sage, pp. 73–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inkeles, A., and D. Smith (1974) Becoming Modern: Individual Change in Six Developing Nations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kalaycıoğlu, E. (2008) “Turkiye’de Demokrasinin Pekismesi: Bir Siyasal Kültür Sorunu” (Democratic Consolidation in Turkey: A Problem of Political Culture), in Ergun Özbudun’a Armağan (Essays in Honor of Ergun Özbudun). Ankara: Yetkin Yayınevi, pp. 247–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karabelias, G. (1999) “The Evolution of Civil-Military Relations in Post-War Turkey, 1980–95,” Middle Eastern Studies, 35 (4), pp. 130–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karadağ, R. (2010) “Neoliberal Restructuring in Turkey: From State to Oligarchic Capitalism.” Working Paper, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, pp. 1–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keloğlu-İsler, E. (2007) “Demokrat Parti’nin halkla ilişkileri üzerine bir inceleme,” İletiçim Kuram ve Araştırma Dergisi, Sayi 24, pp. 111–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keyman, F., and Z. Öniş (2007) Turkish Politics in a Changing World, Global Dynamics and Domestic Transformations. Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kılıç, E. (2008) Özel Harp Dairesi: Türkiye’nin Gizli Tarihi. Istanbul: Turkuvaz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kılıç, E. (2010) Jitem: TUrkiye’nin faili meçhul tarihi. Istanbul: Timaş.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuştepeli, Y. (2012) “Socio-Economic Development and Democratic Consolidation in Turkey,” in Democratic Consolidation in Turkey (Ed. Müge Aknur). Boca Raton, FL: Universal Publishers, pp. 249–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuyucu, A.T. (2005) “Ethno-Religious ‘Unmixing’ of Turkey: 6–7 September Riots as a Case in Turkish Nationalism,” Nations and Nationalism, 11 (3), pp. 361–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitsky, S., and L. Way (2002) “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism,” Journal of Democracy, 13 (2), pp. 51–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lijphart, A. (1968) The Politics of Accommodation: Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linz, J.J., and A. Stepan (1997) “Toward Consolidated Democracies,” in Consolidating the Third Wave Democracies, Themes and Perspectives (Ed. Larry Diamond). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 14–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipset, S.M. (1981) Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merkel, W. (2004) “Embedded and Defective Democracies,” Democratization, 11 (5), pp. 33–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narlı, N. (2000) “Turkish Civil-Military Relations,” Turkish Studies, 1 (1), pp. 107–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narlı, N. (2011) “Concordance and Discordance in Turkish Civil-Military Relations, 1980–2002,” Turkish Studies, 12 (2), pp. 215–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nokta (2007), 22, March-April.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell, G. (1994) “Delegative Democracy,” Journal of Democracy, 5 (1), pp. 55–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell, G., P. Schmitter and L. Whiteheads (eds) (1986) Transitions from Authoritarian Rule. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Öktem, K. (2013) “Turkey, from Tahrir to Taksim.” Available from: http://www.opendemocracy.net/kerem-oktem/turkey-from-tahrir-to-taksim [accessed 7 June 2013].

  • Önder, N. (2007) “The Turkish Political Economy: Globalization and Regionalism,” Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 6 (1–3), pp. 229–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Önis, Z. (2004) “Turgut Özal and His Economic Legacy: Turkish Neo-Liberalism in Critical Perspective,” Middle Eastern Studies, 40 (4), pp. 113–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Önis, Z. (2005) “Entrepreneurs, Citizenship and the European Union,” in Challenges to Citizenship in a Globalizing World: European Questions and Turkish Experiences (Eds Ahmet Icduygu, Fuat Keyman). New York: Routledge, pp. 173–195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Önis, Z. (2009) “Conservative Globalism at the Crossroads: The Justice and Development Party and the Thorny Path to Democratic Consolidation,” Mediterranean Politics, 14 (1), pp. 21–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oran, B. (2007) “Antiemperyalizm 2007,” Radikal İki, 20 May 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Sullivan, N. (1999) “Conservatism,” in Contemporary Political Ideologies (Eds Roger Eatwell, Anthony Wright). London: Pinter, pp. 51–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Özbudun, E. (1993) “State Elites and Democratic Political Culture in Turkey,” in Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Countries (Ed. L. Diamond). Boulder, CO, and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, pp. 247–269.

    Google Scholar 

  • Özdalga, E. (2006) “The Hidden Arab: A Critical Reading of the Notion of Turkish Islam,” Middle Eastern Studies, 42, pp. 547–566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Przeworski, A. (1988) “Democracy as a Contingent Outcome of Conflicts,” in Constitutionalism and Democracy (Eds Jon Elster, Rune Slagstad). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 59–81.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Przeworski, A. (1991) Democracy and the Market: Political and Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sarıgil, Z. (2008), “Deconstructing the Turkish Military’s Popularity,” Armed Forces & Society, 35 (4), pp. 709–727.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schedler, A. (1998) “What Is Democratic Consolidation?” Journal of Democracy, 9 (2), pp. 91–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Söyler, M. (2012) “Informal Institutions, Forms of State and Democracy: The Turkish Deep State,” Democratization, 20 (2), pp. 1–24, doi:10.1080/1351034 7.2011.650915.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tachau, F., and M. Heper (1983) “The State, Politics, and the Military in Turkey,” Comparative Politics, 16 (1), pp. 17–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turan, I. (1984) “The Evolution of Political Culture in Turkey,” in Modern Turkey: Continuity and Change (Ed. Ahmet Evin). Opladen: Leske Verlag, pp. 84–113.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ünver, H.A. (2009) “Turkey’s ‘Deep-State’ and the Ergenekon Conundrum,” The Middle East Institute Policy Brief 23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Bruinessen, M. (2012) “Turkey and the Kurds in the Early 1990s: Guerrilla, Counter-insurgency, and Emerging Civil Society.” Available from: http://www.hum.uu.nl/medewerkers/m.vanbruinessen/publications/Bruinessen_Turkey_and_the_Kurds_in_the_early_1990s.pdf [accessed 10 November 2012].

  • Yıldırım, A.K. (2012) “New Democrats: Religious Actors, Social Change and Democratic Consolidation in Turkey,” Contemporary Islam, 7 (3), pp. 1–20. doi:10.1007/s11562-012-0228-5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zakaria, F. (1997) “The Rise of Illiberal Democracies,” Foreign Affairs, 76 (6), pp. 22–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zurcher, E.J. (2005) Modernleçen Türkiye’nin Tarihi. Istanbul: İletişim.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Jülide Karakoç
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Gedik University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Jülide Karakoç (Assistant Professor of Political Science) (Assistant Professor of Political Science)

Copyright information

© 2015 Jülide Karakoç

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Karakoç, J. (2015). Authoritarian Tendencies versus Democratization: Evidence from Turkey. In: Karakoç, J. (eds) Authoritarianism in the Middle East. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137445551_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation