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This qualitative study examines teacher educators' articulations about their beliefs and motivations for preparing the next generation of teachers. The study also explores how teacher educators conceptualise their roles as the teachers of prospective teachers. Employing case study design, the participants included 10 teacher educators who serve at a highly selective, public, research university in Turkey. The data were collected through semi-structured and in-depth individual interviews. Adopting critical pedagogy as the theoretical framework, the interviews were analyzed by content analysis method with the help of NVivo 10 qualitative data analysis software. The results showed that the teacher educators specifically saw their roles as enacting change, advocating for democracy, equity, and social justice, and promoting the improvement and welfare of societies, in an effort to bring more emancipatory educational practices in the society through pre-service teacher education. This study furthers our understanding of how teacher education programs could improve their professional preparation and practices to push the agenda for social justice and equity in K-12 schools. [This study was presented at the annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA) in New York/USA between April 13-17, 2018.]

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between global citizenship, multicultural personality and critical thinking in preservice teachers. The study group consisted of 363 preservice teachers who attend different departments of Faculty of Education in Kutahya. Data collection was done through Scale Universal Citizenship, Multicultural Personality Questionnaire and Critical Thinking Disposition Scale. Because the data exhibited a normal distribution because of preliminary analysis, Pearson product-moment correlation analysis of parametric tests and multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis. According to the findings, there is positive relationship between critical thinking and multicultural personality trends and global citizenship. In other words, as multicultural personality scores increased, level of global citizenship also increased. Or as critical thinking tendencies decreased, the level of universal citizenship decreased. In a society where people adopt universal values and can think critically, democracy, justice and tolerance become dominant. And in a globalized world where there is no critical thinking, consequences of wrong thinking and wrong decisions will end up with global violence, intolerance, injustice, and war that has high destructive power. [This study was presented at the 5th International Social Studies Education Symposium in Denizli.]

This paper reviews the literature on citizenship education and examines the factors that have influenced trends in citizenship education in the Republic of Turkey since its foundation in 1923. The aim of this paper is to discuss the general tendencies and practices in citizenship education that have shaped how Turkish youth perceived citizenship throughout the Republic's history. By addressing three important aspects of these tendencies and traditions (history, geography, and geopolitics), the author will discuss whether Turkey is prepared to produce globally minded citizens in today's interconnected world. The history of civic education in modern Turkey can be divided into four time periods, as organized by Ince (2012): The Single Party period (1923-1946), the Democratic Party period (1946-1960), the first military intervention period (1960-1980), and the second military intervention period (1980 onward).

In the simplest term, democracy may be defined as a set of views and standards towards freedom, however it includes an array of approaches which have been framed over the history of mankind. In short, democracy is the systematized form of freedom. A democratic country is not possible without the freedom of expression. Freedom of expression fosters publics to clearly put forward their demands on how the authorities should perform their duties. Thus, this study inquires the visionary underpinnings of third persons in a phenomenological custom. The data of the study were gathered through a questionnaire designed by Yildirim and Türkoglu (2017) and semi-structured interview questions structured by the researchers. Through a mix method research design, this paper employed both qualitative and quantitative ways to collect the required data. 180 EFL prep-class students at a state university in Turkey participated in the study. 160 of the informants responded to the questionnaire while 20 informants answered the semi-structured interview questions. Convenience sampling, where the very first accessible data is employed, was utilized in the study. The findings of the study show that the need of democratic participation is felt in EFL classrooms. Related implications to raise the awareness of EFL students and teachers on democracy and democratic citizenship were given at the end of the paper.

When considered the basis of social studies, it can be seen that citizenship and citizenship-related issues are of vital importance. After the industrial revolution and immigration, education was considered as a solution to keep people together healthily who have serious problems with each other and are from different cultures. Within the context of this solution, raising citizens capable of living in society was aimed and this duty was given to social studies education programs. During the time, different forms and perceptions of citizenship have emerged and expectations of countries/governments from their citizens have changed. In the course of globalization, perceptions and expectations of citizens also have been transformed. In past, raising citizens obeying the state was the aim, today the expectation is to raise citizens who can carry their states, nations and even the world to higher levels and who can criticize, explore, solve problems and develop themselves at a national and universal level. Since human beings have to live together with different cultures and nations, they are expected to respect different ones from themselves and to be loyal to democratic values with a sense of tolerance. Today, the concept of citizenship cannot be considered without democracy and values of democracy. It is also important to reveal what social studies candidate teachers understand from the combination of citizenship and democracy concepts, which have crucial place in the nature of social studies and its education. For this reason, the aim of this research is to reveal the opinions of social studies candidate teachers on democracy and citizenship. This research is carried out using a qualitative research method. Social studies candidate teachers educated at Ege University makes up the study group of this research. In the study, opinions of social studies candidate teachers were received using a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions. The research is carried out with 165 participants in total based on a voluntary basis. However, blank and meaningless data is eliminated and thus data of 135 participants is used in total. Data is collected with an open-ended questionnaire and is analyzed using content analysis method. In the result of the research, social studies candidate teachers defined citizenship as duties and responsibilities and they defined democracy rights-liberties and duties-responsibilities when they defined the concepts of democracy and citizenship. It can be said that according to social studies candidate teachers, democracy gives the meaning of rights and liberties to citizenship concept. They expressed a relation between two concepts and mentioned basic values/characteristics of democracy such as equality, justice, tolerance, freedom. However, results of this study demonstrate the necessity of a license program or teacher education program that handles the citizenship with a multi-dimensional and constructivist approach. [This study was presented as an oral presentation at the International Social Studies Education Symposium (USBES) in Kirsehir Ahi Evran University, in 2018.]

The aim of this study was to compare the level of allocation of human rights education issues in social studies textbooks in Turkey and the United States. For this aim, six social studies textbooks from both countries were examined. Textbooks were analyzed in terms of their level of "human rights education issues," in accordance with Karaman-Kepenekci's (1999) subcategories. A content analysis method was used to analyze the textbooks. As a result, it was observed that human rights education issues were included more in Turkish social studies textbooks. The study showed that Turkish and United States textbooks contained the "rights" subcategory the most. While the intensity scores of the "democracy," "freedom," and "judgment" subcategories were listed the highest in both countries' textbooks, on the other hand, the intensity scores of the "tolerance" and "peace" subcategories were placed last in the textbooks of both countries. [This study was presented at the International Conference on Educational Research and Innovation (ICERI) (Institute of Research and Community Services of Yogyakarta State University Yogyakarta, Indonesia, May 11-12, 2016).]

Media freedom and independence are the pillars of a given democratic society. Since the media makes up the bridge between the political authority and the public opinion, its independence is crucial for the survival of democracy. However, the history of the media has always been paved with obstacles of different kinds. This paper examines the obstacles to the freedom and independence of the media in the world in general and Turkey in particular. The critical political economy of the media was used as the theoretical framework for the study and, as for the method, a qualitative analysis of secondary data was performed. The existing literature showed that media concentration ownership, commercial stakes, and political interference make up the main obstacles to media freedom and independence in the world. Also, the literature revealed that political interference, economic stakes, and the legal framework in which the media operate consist of the main obstacle to media freedom and independence in Turkey. It was revealed that even in countries where freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution, the media still struggle to maintain a completely independent editorial policy. he negative world trends in media freedom and independence consequently imply a negative trend in democracy in the world. The rise of electronic journalism contributed significantly to the freedom and independence of the media. However, political power and digital capital control the media content, which often leads to censorship.

The United Nations (UN) and Council of Europe (CoE) have engaged in the development of a human rights education (HRE) curriculum in Turkey. The study programme for an elective high school course, "Democracy and Human Rights," was first developed as part of the UN Decade for HRE initiative in 1999. The programme was later renewed as part of CoE's Education for Democratic Citizenship and HRE initiative in 2013. This study scrutinises the course's two programmes with a view to providing insights into the role of international agencies in HRE curriculum reforms. The introduction and development of the course--which is possibly the world's longest-lived example of HRE taught as a school subject--was a product of the efforts of the international organisations. After discussing the political-ideological influences of the factions that held power when both programmes were developed, the paper ends with suggestions to improve the effectiveness of international organisations in HRE curriculum reform.

This paper draws upon learning from three action research projects conducted as part of a Europe-wide project exploring young people's social and political participation. Challenging dominant discourses about what 'counts' as participation and what does not, the paper explores how, through the action research projects, young people engaged in knowledge democracy in 'new democratic arenas'. Building upon experiential knowing and creating knowledge and learning through practice, the young people explored their own democratic knowledge production, communication and engagement within a context of shifting discourses of participation, democratic engagement and active citizenship. The increasing preference of young people for more informal forms of participation as lived practice reflects a shift to young people constructing their own modes of participation and 'remaking democracy' in their own vision and according to their own needs. By working outside of the confines of normative assumptions of democratic practice and participation, young people exercised their own 'political' agency in response to their own priorities, interests and concerns and, in doing so, illustrated that new forms, understandings and practices of knowledge democracy can emerge that reflect the promise of inclusive democratic societies more meaningfully.

The overall aims of this study are to conduct a needs analysis of curriculum design of the "Human Rights, Citizenship and Democracy" course for the teacher candidates at the Department of Primary School Education. Convergent parallel mixed methods design is used. Interviews with eight primary school teachers, three instructors and six 4th grade teacher candidates and a Questionnaire for 80 teacher candidates were administered. According to the results, it was seen that the teacher candidates were barely knowledgeable about the child rights; and that the teacher candidates appreciated the learning outcomes of the course design, and yet they considered themselves quite incompetent for these learning outcomes. The results also showed that an education program on human rights, citizenship and democracy should be offered to the teacher candidates as a must course. [This paper was presented at the 6th International Congress on Curriculum and Instruction held in Kars between 11-13 October 2018.]

In response to the United Nation's (UN) Decade for Human Rights Education initiative, the Turkish Ministry of National Education changed the title of citizenship education courses from 'Citizenship Studies' to 'Citizenship and Human Rights Education' in 1995. However, this curriculum reform was overshadowed by the rise to power of a political Islamist party. The secularist military toppled the first Islamist party-led government in the name of preserving the principle of laicism. Announced after the 1997 coup, the main textbook for the citizenship and human rights education course showed a profound influence of the militaristic discourses as evidenced by the negative depiction of the Kurdish people and political Islamists and the hagiographic portrayal of Atatürk and the army. By drawing on interviews with key informants, archival/public policy documentation and textbooks, this paper argues that the curriculum reform began with the participation in the UN initiative ended with the military's instrumentalisation of the subject because it was launched with no recognition of Turkey's human rights and democracy problems.

Gender-related issues feature prominently on the EU's agenda and in policies such as the Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025 which identifies gender equality as a core principle of the EU. Within the broader convergence discourse which examines whether candidate countries are converging with the EU, prompted by Turkey's withdrawal from the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention and the Sofagate incident, this paper conducts a gender-centric convergence analysis in the case Turkey. To this end, it uses five gender-focused indices compiled by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project. The empirical results from the convergence tests do not provide evidence supporting convergence in terms of these five gender-related indices. The findings of the present study concur with the existing relevant literature and should be viewed in the broader context of Turkey's democratic backsliding and de-Europeanization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global reform talk on pedagogy has been converging around student-centred pedagogy (SCP) in recent decades. One of the significant appeals of this pedagogical model is its democratisation potentials. This article seeks to empirically study SCP's role in democratising learning and promoting social democratisation by taking the case of Turkey, a country whose democracy has been defined as being in acute crisis. The data are drawn from interviews with teachers and school management at eight public primary schools in Ankara. The study is mainly concerned with the potential of SCP in promoting democratic learning in classrooms, and understanding how broader social, cultural and political contexts support or impede such democratisation efforts. The paper will explore if adherence to democratic learning is more than rhetoric, particularly when serious limitations to social and political democratisation continue to persist in Turkey under the regime of the AKP.

Using President Joe Biden's opinion article published in The Washington Post ahead of the June 14, 2021 NATO Summit as a point of departure, the present paper examines how NATO members fare in terms of the core constituent elements of liberal democracy such as civil liberties and freedom of expression. To this effect, the paper uses three indices constructed and published by the Varieties of Democracy project. The Liberal democracy, Civil liberties and Freedom of expression indices. The results from club convergence analysis that covers the post-Cold War period, indicate the presence of different convergence clubs among NATO's member-states and Turkey as the single divergent country. Moreover, given that many NATO countries are also EU members, the paper examines the comparative effect the dual NATO and EU membership had on the democratisation process of East European countries and Turkey. The findings suggest a statistically stronger impact of EU membership vis-à-vis NATO membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose In the last decade, foreign direct investment (FDI) flows have increased dramatically in the world, especially in the emerging economies. Some of these countries make changes in their market conditions that will improve the civil rights and liberties to attract better FDI flows. The purpose of this paper is to test the linkage between democracy and FDI flows to Turkey.Design/methodology/approach The present study employs a bounds testing procedure developed (Pesaran et al., 2001) for cointegration analysis on six different long-run models with selected determinants of FDIs with yearly data from 1977 to 2011.Findings The intuition the paper empirically provides how improvements in democracy have a significant positive impact on FDI flows to Turkey. The results may also put forward that, in the long run, FDI inflows will have spillover effects in Turkey’s economy.Research limitations/implications Although one drawback in the study is having a small sample size of 35 observations, estimating six different long-run models is one way to overcome it. Thus presented results may be in short of simplification for some readers. This, however, opens an opportunity for future studies to further the proposal by employing in different models and/or longer data sets if possible.Practical implications A stable government policies, more civil freedom, and sustained institution politics should not be ignored in Turkey given its geopolitical location.Originality/value This paper satisfies the established need to study of democracy and FDI flows link is necessary in an emerging market such as Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prominent themes in Turkey's political development are modernization and Westernization, notions that carry with them a particular teleology in terms of expected political outcomes. While Turkey has, over several decades, modernized in several respects, Westernization has arguably been much more limited, particularly in terms of embracing political liberalism. This paper scrutinizes its failure to take root in Turkey, noting how a congruence of factors at both the mass and elite levels tends to work against policies that would embrace individual rights and freedoms, pluralism, and a more limited role for the state. It focuses in particular on three periods in Turkish history when liberalism could have potentially been adopted, but ultimately failed to succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study deals with the AKP (Justice and Development Party) right-authoritarianism during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey, as seen from the perspective of necropolitics. It examines the relationships between politics and death, asking the question of how such relationships fell into an authoritarian character adversely influencing democracy and democratic values. For this, the study centres on the AKP government's response to the pandemic crisis, discussed as a manifestation of necropolitics. The paper explains the concept of necropolitics and underlines two of its fundamental characteristics: state of exception and creation of enemy. The paper focuses on these two traits to frame and critique the AKP's right-authoritarian politics during the COVID-19 outbreak. The aim of the analysis is to show how AKP politics has politicised death, bearing in mind the social and political opposition's moves against such politics in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gezi protests were a watershed moment for market liberals since it triggered inter-movement and intra-movement schisms. A flagship institution of market liberals, Liberal Düşünce Topluluğu (the Association of Liberal Thought) underwent such a schismatic process and, consequently, new market-liberal organizations arose from the schism, which was characterized by a frame dispute with the ALT over the policies pursued by the incumbent government, Justice and Development Party (JDP). The framing dispute between the two factions occurred along the lines of securing democracy versus the restriction of state power. This study delineates the root causes of the framing dispute between market liberals. To this end, two factors are proposed to account for it within the context of this paper. These two factors can be encapsulated as the growing conservative/liberal division among market liberals and entrenched interpersonal patronage networks within political circles which is closely related to the changing nature of government-civil society relations in Turkey. Drawing from semi-structured interviews, publications of market liberals, and a good number of secondary sources, we aim to shed light on the rift within market liberals in post-Gezi Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Copenhagen criteria for EU accession are the essential preconditions that candidate countries must satisfy to be deemed eligible for membership. In line with the strand of the literature that focuses on candidate countries' convergence with the EU, the paper examines whether converge with the EU in terms of the Copenhagen political criteria can be established empirically for candidate and potential-candidate countries. Currently, the candidate country status is granted to Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. Bosnia–Herzegovina and Kosovo are recognized by the EU as potential candidate countries. In addition to the candidate and potential candidate countries, we include in the convergence tests the six countries of the Eastern Partnership EU policy: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine. Using unit root tests, convergence is examined in terms of two indices drawn from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project: the Liberal democracy and the Civil liberties indices. The findings reported herein, are not uniform and on the whole offer only scant evidence in favour of the convergence hypothesis. For some of the candidate and potential candidate countries convergence is established, while for others the results do not point to such a process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the AKP's victory in the 2002 general elections, 'conservative democracy' has emerged as a trademark in Turkish politics, focusing on cosmopolitanism and European integration. In the late 2000s, the party's favourite notion was 'advanced democracy', this time underlining Turkey's leadership claim in the region and displaying a more critical approach to 'Europe'. In this paper, I aim to show how different narratives on 'Europe' emerged within the context of these empty signifiers. The paper claims that the difference in the two narratives on 'Europe' in two different periods does not point to a complete and fully fledged de-Europeanisation trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) which has a tendency towards Islam, but secular concurrently raises a question: what is the identity of the AKP? To date, this question is still being debated although generally, AKP has frequently been denoted as a party with an Islamic aspiration. Hence, this paper aims to revisit the identity of the AKP based on the framework of Islamic political movement. This paper fully adopted library research by examining sources related to the scope of the discussion. Ideologically, AKP makes conservative democracy as its ideology by harmonizing between conservative and liberal democratic values. The party also adheres to the secularism discourse although it meets almost all the characteristics of Islamic political movement for the Turkish context. Besides, it was found that the AKP has sided to religious interests in few issues. At the same time, AKP also has been resisted by military as the guardian of secular principle. This paper argues that the AKP is a party of its own identity, where it upholds the liberal version of secularism and tends to create an accommodative atmosphere for free religious practice. Finally, this paper offers some recommendations that can be considered for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review study provides an opportunity to look at the level of organizational democracy (OD) that a large sample of private- and public-sector employees in an emerging market (Turkey) perceive. The focused systematic review includes empirical studies examining employees' level of OD and associated work and organizational psychological variables, using the Organizational Democracy Scale (ODS) in Turkey. This paper includes studies published between January 2014 and April 2021 in the Google Academic, Dergipark, and Ulakbim databases and on the Turkish National Thesis Center website. From a total of 1,778 records, 37 empirical studies meeting the inclusion criteria were included (with a total of N = 10,370 employees). Of these studies, 67.6% are published articles and manuscripts, 24% are unpublished dissertations, and 43.2% of the studies took place in the public sector. The results suggest that the level of employees' perceived OD was slightly above the medium level (mean: 3.30 ± 81), and the scores of the private-sector employees are higher than those of the public employees. Further, empirical associations between OD and 21 different outcome variables are reported and discussed. To varying extents, significant positive correlations were found between the level of employees' perceived OD and positive organizational variables, such as organizational citizenship behavior, organizational commitment, psychological capital, and job satisfaction. On the other hand, negative significant relationships occurred between OD and negatively evaluated organizational variables, such as job stress and organizational depression. The results of this study support the importance of organizational democracy as a management approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores and compares basic indicators regarding the participation of young people in political processes in Turkey and Bulgaria between 2011 and 2016. The data used are derived from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems database. The results of the secondary processing of the quantitative data are comparatively analyzed. This paper shows that the youth of Turkey and Bulgaria had some similarities regarding their attitudes toward civic participation but also significant differences. The economic performances of governments shown to be a factor regarding support for ruling parties. However, in the case of Bulgaria, other factors played more significant roles in this respect during the examined period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prominent question in the literature on democracy is concerned with the role of external factors in stimulating the process of democratization and uploading rule of law. This paper tackles the following questions: How does the political conditionality of an international organization-the EU in this case-stimulate democracy in third countries? Equally important, does conditionality always have a positive impact and could it be possible to witness the EU undermining democracy in an unexpected manner? This paper addresses these questions through an analysis of the Turkish democracy in the light of its accession to the EU and through an application of the EU membership conditionality by looking at rule of law in Turkey. The general contention in the political conditionality literature is that the EU enables an acceding country to adopt its democratic principles, and facilitates transition to democracy, while strengthening rule of law. However, the Turkish transformation seems to challenge this contention. This paper proposes that the EU's political conditionality in bringing about political transformation in Turkey as a membership precondition unexpectedly illuminated the underlying anti-democratic tendencies and tensions in Turkish politics. The democratization process in Turkey since 1999, partly stimulated by the EU, has opened up a Pandora's box releasing the conflict between the secularists and religious conservatives in Turkey that has long been suppressed. This paper analyzes these cleavages through the prism of EU political conditionality with regards to rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to make use of participatory scenarios to assess the multiple aspects of space with the help of future scenarios. Design/methodology/approach – This paper makes an attempt to appreciate multiple representations of space where past and present experiences merge with future desires and concerns. With the help of one case study, Izmir (Turkey), where a vision of democratic city is developed, the paper shows how future scenarios can provide deeper and richer appreciation of present space, thereby challenging existing spatial practices. Findings – The participatory approach used in the development of scenarios suggests interesting implications to operationalise a more relational concept of space in real planning strategies. Research limitations/implications – The use of scenarios in strategic planning to identify future possibilities and to make stakeholders aware of uncertainties has been increasingly recognised in planning research and practice. Practical implications – The appreciation of the multiple aspects of space with the help of future scenarios would enrich the spatial planning practice. Social implications – The use of participatory approach to preparing scenarios enables participants to make use of interactive method in social and political discourses. Originality/value – The use of scenarios to examine various aspects of space that may be relevant in spatial planning has not received similar attention. The latter poses methodological as well as practical challenges for researchers. This paper is an attempt to do just that. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey has adopted the presidential system over parliamentarism in 2018 with the promise that the new system would bring more stability, democracy, and economic growth. As being the most recent country which changed its government system through a referendum to presidentialism, Turkey constitutes a very important example to be analyzed in order to see the effects of it after a long-adopted parliamentary period in the 21st century. This paper compares the basic features of democracy as well as the democratic presidential systems with the example of Turkey and aims at finding out if the presidentialism has performed well and if not, why, in the light of examples and chosen indicators. Findings of this study suggest that presidential system led to a "consolidation of power" which in its nature is anti-democratic. Analysis of certain indicators show that presidentialism did not perform well in Turkey on democratic, political as well as economic fronts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present form of Middle East is the result of imperial designs. A century ago, signing of Sykes-Picot Agreement and the subsequent nation-state formation marked an important chapter in the annals of world politics in general and that of the region in particular. The region, that was soon to realize its treasure of natural resources, witnessed a tumultuous future marred by sectarian divides, foreign intervention, violence and bloodshed that has remained the focal point of the world. The region, having predominantly Muslim population, has also been lately the breeding ground for different jihadi organizations fighting against Western interventions in the region. Allegiances have played an important role in shaping the relations between different states within the region. In the strife-torn region, challenged by security concerns, regional alliances constitute an important deterrent. Ideologies and history continue to shape their future course of relations. It is in this backdrop that Turkey, owing to its glorious past, has emerged as the country which has largely remained aloof from the growing strife in the region and presents a glimmer of hope. It was after the formation of AKP (Justice and Development Party) that Turkey witnessed a dramatic shift in its foreign policy and the subsequent Arab Spring in the region which changed the dynamics of the regional politics. This paper is an attempt to trace the evolution of democracy in Turkey and the formation of AKP and the changes it brought in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent transformations in the politics of security in Turkey have been linked by many scholars to a global trend defined by a rapidly developing neoliberal security state form. The 15 July 2016 coup attempt, however, seems to disrupt the convergence of the Turkish case with the global politics of neoliberal (in)security. This paper revisits the neoliberal security state debate and argues that the radical scope of the legal, administrative and coercive changes enacted in the Turkish state signals a transition to a more ‘exceptional’ paradigm of security. To this end, the paper adopts the conception of ‘regime security’ and investigates how the AKP government policies have contributed to a party-oriented security paradigm bolstered by executive centralisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unpacking the core themes that are discussed in this collection, this article both offers a research agenda to re-analyse Turkey’s ‘authoritarian turn’ and mounts a methodological challenge to the conceptual frameworks that reinforce a strict analytical separation between the ‘economic’ and the ‘political’ factors. The paper problematises the temporal break in scholarly analyses of the AKP period and rejects the argument that the party’s methods of governance have shifted from an earlier ‘democratic’ model - defined by ‘hegemony’ - to an emergent ‘authoritarian’ one. In contrast, by retracing the mechanisms of the state-led reproduction of neoliberalism since 2003, the paper demonstrates that the party’s earlier ‘hegemonic’ activities were also shaped by authoritarian tendencies which manifested at various levels of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades there has been a great deal of interest in the academic literature on the relationship between civil society organizations (CSOs) and the state, and the impact of state power on CSOs in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. Yet, despite this interest, very few detailed empirical explorations of these issues have been conducted to date. Of the detailed empirical work that does exist, none has focused on state–CSO relations in a democratic context in the MENA. This paper contributes to filling this gap by examining these relations and their implications in the Turkish context. More specifically, this paper explores the democratizing role of independent women’s organizations in Turkey and the ways in which the state has sought to exert power over and control these organizations. The methodology consists of a series of 38 in-depth interviews with both registered and unregistered women’s organizations from across the seven administrative regions of Turkey. The findings show that while CSOs do challenge the state in some regards, the state is by far the more powerful actor and very effective at moderating and de-radicalizing civil society. The state does this by controlling the areas in which CSOs can operate and be effective, and through the use of repressive measures. The results show that these measures have the effect of tempering the demands of CSOs and reducing their capacity to challenge and counterbalance state power. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper makes a parallel reading of two recent urban protest movements: the 2013 Istanbul Gezi Park Movement (GPM) and the 2014 Hong Kong Umbrella Movement (UM). As regional centers at both ends of Asia, Istanbul and Hong Kong might at fırst sight appear to be incongruent cities for comparison. Istanbul’s recent past has been defined by contrasting opinions about the city’s post-imperial identity, while Hong Kong’s recent past has been shaped by competing visions around the city’s post-colonial status. Directing attention to the striking parallels between the GPM and UM in terms of the nature of the events themselves, the profile of the participants and opponents, the government response that they received, and the cultural sensitivities concerning the questions of belonging and identity that they rekindled, the paper argues that comparative studies of the new urban protest movements would provide significant insights for discerning the dynamics of emerging illiberal democracies across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An essay on Turkey's exit from democracy and a shift to authoritarianism and an Islamist revolution is presented. It discusses the nation's illiberal governance including its quest to mobilize voters by polarizing society to unequal election campaign. It also examines the ideas and papers prsented at an international symposium on majoritarianism, populism an crises of liberal mode democracy, held at the University of Graz in October 2015.

This paper proposes an alternative form of conflict resolution to analyze ethnic conflict and Kurdish dissent in the polarized and divided society of Turkey. It does so by employing Mouffe’s concept of agonism and radical democracy, in conjunction with Laclau’s model of populism. Through an analysis of the role of the Kurdish-led, left-leaning populist party, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), and its approach to Turkish-Kurdish reconciliation, the paper makes the case for the political and theoretical effectiveness of an agonistic approach, illustrating the possibility of dispute resolution by taking conflict into the centre of the peace building process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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This paper explores the phenomenon of the absence of public libraries from the politics and agendas of the Republic of Turkey, which was founded in 1923. Every institution is established and developed within the framework of the laws of its country. Both the successes and failures of institutions are directly proportional to the understanding of democracy in that country. In countries where democracy is not indigenized, the desires of the rulers in power may forge ahead regardless of what the legislation stipulates. The library as a social institution is an indispensable component of the dynamics of any democratic country. Therefore the question being asked is, to what extent can public libraries fulfill their objectives and functions in countries like Turkey, where democracy is not yet fully indigenized? With this question in mind, the paper first determines the place and function of politics in the general history of public libraries in Turkey; it then goes on to reveal how library institutions are affected when politics and democracy do not overlap. The methodology used for the study is an analysis of documents such as government programs, development plans, and laws and regulations. Data show that what has been promised directly or indirectly by some government programs has never been realized. It is concluded that unstable politics and the involvement of politicians in the operations of libraries hinder public libraries in performing their role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

President Erdoğan and the AKP government initiated a comprehensive restoration process immediately after the failed coup in mid-July 2016. In fact, the country has been experiencing a very comprehensive and violent regime transformation since this time. I assert that recent political developments paved the way for institutionalization of a 'plebiscitary presidential regime' that depends on a particular combination of supreme power of the leader, an extremely weak parliament, and elections of a plebiscitary character. In this context, the paper aims to shed light on the role of the new strategic legalism which allows rule of law to be replaced by a rule by law approach, the executive prerogative principle to be dominant, and the law to be used for demobilization, all playing a highly critical role in the suppression of democratic opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the relationship between Islam and democracy has received considerable attention in the social science literature, very few studies have explained the dynamics of support for democracy through a micro-level, socio-psychological lens. Applying a novel perspective, this study analyzes the empirical nexus among Islamic religiosity, being open to new ideas and creativity (ONIC), and pro-democratic attitudes to probe the following two questions: Are Muslims who are open to new ideas and think creatively more supportive of democracy than those who are not? Could ONIC be an intervening factor between religiosity and support for democracy? To this end, the paper systematically (1) examines the interrelationship between ONIC and Islamic religiosity; (2) estimates the effects thereof on support for democracy; (3) assesses the mediating potential of ONIC between devoutness and pro-democratic attitudes through an illustrative case of Turkey. The findings indicate that ONIC and Islamic religiosity are not mutually exclusive. The evidence also suggests that, ceteris paribus, while religiosity is positively associated with pro-democratic attitudes, the mediating potential of ONIC is inconclusive. Religiosity and ONIC appear to have an independent effect on support for democracy. Educational reforms or policies that cultivate and support creative thinking might be consequential for building and fostering democracy in Islamic societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the dynamics of making group rights claims using individual human rights discourse in the Turkish public sphere. Group claims that invoke universalist discourses are paradoxical. While some groups demand group rights, they frame these demands in terms of universal human rights claims. This paper highlights this paradox by looking at the dynamics of making group rights claims using individual human rights discourse with an empirical case study from Turkey. The study looks at the case of Mazlumder which is an Islamist human rights association in Turkey. The paper uses the qualitative case study method based on in-depth interviews with members of the group. Three themes that highlight the paradox emerge from the research: the emphasis on the rights-based discourse, their anti-state rhetoric and their interpretation of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guillermo O’Donnell’s influential work ‘Delegative Democracy’ set the discourse on a peculiar type of democracy. Lying between representative democracy and authoritarianism, the uniqueness of delegative democracy lies in its features, including an absence of horizontal accountability, strong centralised rule, individual leadership with unchecked powers, a cult figure embodying the nation and clientelist practices. While delegative democracies seem to arise out of presidential systems, Turkey, though a parliamentary system, has also displayed the distinctive features of delegative democracies. This paper identifies three characteristics of delegative democracy, which are responsible for the lack of democratic consolidation, if not the erosion of democracy itself: anti-institutionalism, an anti-political agenda and clientelism. Arguing that delegative democracy is the best concept with which to examine contemporary Turkey, the paper lays out how, post-2011, Turkey has demonstrated the three elements of delegative democracy. The final section discusses the implications of the Turkish case for scrutinising the very possibility of delegative democracy in parliamentary regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main goal of this paper is to explain the rise of competitive authoritarianism in Erdoğan's Turkey. The recent literature has mainly focused on the taxonomical debate about the type of regime established by Erdoğan, dealing only rarely with the factors explaining the Turkish autocratization. Building on Levitsky and Loxton's framework, which underlines the catalyst role played by the election of populist leaders for the rise of competitive authoritarianism in Latin America, the analysis identifies the interactions among Erdoğan's populism and threats and opportunities provided by both domestic and international environments as the major cause explaining Turkish autocratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the evolution of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP)’s civilizational outlook vis-à-vis the West as a discursive instrument that justified its Muslim democracy practices as well as its nativist authoritarian practices. The former practice entails that the AKP appear as a Muslim democratic political force, reconciling Islam and democracy, falsifying the Orientalist essentialism prevalent in the West and resolving the crisis in Turkey’s Western identity. After relieving the secular establishment of its guardianship roles in 2010/2011, the AKP’s nativist practices have aimed at redefining Turkey as a Muslim nation by using a civilizational discourse. As such, the AKP’s nativism was characterized by an attempt at resetting the legitimate parameters of Turkish politics to reject the validity of the universal norms of democracy and the legitimacy of their domestic and international proponents. This naturally entailed a populist anti-establishment stance in foreign as well as domestic policy realms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a wide gap between planning ideology and planning practice in some regimes. In planning practice, contextual differences and traditional practices affect urban spatial configurations and their related societal dimensions, and also influence the legislative and administrative systems that dictate the process and production of the built environment. This is linked to situations where hidden practices and power relations among key actors may limit democratic participation in the planning process and challenge ethical practice. This paper focuses on the emerging traditions of planning practice in Turkey. We argue that by understanding the role(s) of the key actors in the process and investigating approval processes in detail, it can become evident that planning 'on the ground' is often tokenistic and circumvented by hegemonic power relations and tactical actions. These latter in turn side-step a requirement for democratic participation and encourage a 'loosening' of planning ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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