Turkey's Democratization Process

Since the end of the 1980 coup d'etat Turkey has been in the midst of a complex process of democratization. Applying methodological pluralism in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of this process in a Turkish context, this book brings together contributions from prominent, Turkish, English, French, and Spanish scholars. Turkey's Democratization Process utilises the theoretical framework of J.J. Linz and A.C. Stepan in order to assess the complex process of democratization in Turkey. This framework takes into account five interacting features of Turkey's polity when making this assessment, namely: whether the underlying legal and socioeconomic conditions are conducive for the development of a free and participant society; if a relatively autonomous political society exists; whether there are legal guarantees for citizens' freedoms; if there exists a state bureaucracy which can be used by a democratic government; and whether the type and pace of Turkish economic development contributes to this process. Examining the Turkish case in light of this framework, this book seeks to combine analyses that will help assess the process of democratization in Turkey to date and will be of interest to scholars and researchers interested in Turkish Politics, Democratization and Middle Eastern Studies more broadly. 

 

Introduction 1 Democratization processes in defective democracies: the case of Turkey-Carmen Rodriguez, Antonio Avalos, Hakan Yilmaz and Ana I. Planet 2 The Formation of Citizenship in Turkey-Ibrahim Saylan 3 Two Steps Forward One Step Back: Turkey's Democratic Transformation-Ilter Turan 4 The International Context of Democratic Reform in Turkey-William Hale Part I:Political Society 5 Party System and Democratic Consolidation in Turkey: Problems and Prospects-Sabri Sayari 6What did They Promise for Democracy and What Did They Deliver?-Isik Gurleyen Part II:Civil Society 7 Democratic Consolidation and Civil Society in Turkey-Fuat Keyman and Tuba Kanci 8 Democratization in Turkey from a Gender Perspective-Pinar Ilkaracan 9 The Istanbul Art Scene - A Social System?-Marcus Graf Part III: Economic Arena 10 Deepening Neo-liberalisation and the Changing Welfare Regime in Turkey: Mutations of a Populist "Sub-Optimal" Democracy-Mine Eder Part IV: State Apparatus 11 New Public Administration in Turkey-Suleyman Sozen 12 Determinants of Tax Evasion by Households: Evidence from Turkey-Ali Carkoglu and Fikret Adaman 13 From Tutelary Powers & Interventions to Civilian Control: an Overview of Turkish Civil-Military Relations since the 1920s-Yaprak Gursoy 14 The Judiciary-Ergun Ozbudun Part V: Rule of Law 15 Democracy, Tutelarism and the Search for a New Constitution-Ergun Ozbudun 16 Human Rights in Turkey-Senem Aydin 17 The Paradox of Equality: Subjective Attitudes Towards basic Rights in Turkey-Aysen Candas Bilgen and Hakan Yilmaz 18 The Kurdish Question: Law, Politics and the Limits of Recognition-Dilek Kurban 19 Non- Muslim Minorities in the Democratization Process of Turkey-Samim Akgonul 20 Democratization in Turkey? Insights from the Alevi Issue-Elise Massicard 21 The Political Economy of the media and its impact on the freedom of expression in Turkey-Ceren Sozeri Conclusion Some Observations on Turkey's Democratization Process-Carmen Rodriguez, Antonio Avalos, Hakan Yilmaz and Ana I. Planet