40 research outputs found
The Politics of Turkish democracy: İsmet İnönü and the formation of the multi-party system, 1938-1950
One of the most significant yet least known periods of modern Turkish history is that of Turkey's second president, Ismet Inönü. Following the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1938, Turkish politicians and intellectuals struggled to redefine Kemalist notions of modernity and democracy, Islam and secularization, the role of the state, and Turkey's place in the world. The Politics of Turkish Democracy examines Inönü's presidency (19381950), which developed amid the crises of World War II and the Cold War, global economic and political transformation, and economic and social change within Turkey. John M. VanderLippe analyzes the political discourse of the era and argues that Inönü was a pivotal figure who played the decisive role in Turkey's transition to a multi-party political system
The 2007 elections and parliamentary elites in Turkey: The emergence of a new political class?
This essay analyzes the impact of the 2007 elections in Turkey on the structure of the parliamentary elites. The article begins with an examination of the recent trends in turnover rates. The electoral earthquake of 2002 resulted in the highest turnover in modern Turkish politics. In 2007, the turnover rate declined to 59.3 percent as a result of the relative stabilization of party competition. In the subsequent sections of the essay, the data on the social backgrounds of the deputies with respect to age, gender, occupation, education, and knowledge of the Arabic language are examined. The analysis reveals some notable differences as well as similarities between the political parties that entered the Grand National Assembly in 2007. Of particular importance is the fact that 73 out of 341 AKP deputies know Arabic, presumably as a result of their training at the Imam-Hatip schools. The essay concludes with the observation that the AKP's decisive electoral victories in 2002 and 2007 have facilitated the rise of a new political class of parliamentary elites in Turkey