Turkey’s Unconsolidated Democracy: The Nexus between Democratisation and Majoritarianism in Turkey

GTE Policy Brief (Istituto Affari Internazionali) No. 19, January 2015

by Meltem Müftüler-Baç and E. Fuat Keyman *

A new era in Turkish politics seemed to have launched in 2002 when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power and has since then steadily increased its electoral support becoming the dominant party in Turkish politics. While multiple political and legal reforms were adopted under its rule, the systemic deficiencies in Turkish politics have, nonetheless, slowly crept up. This policy brief argues that the Turkish democratic consolidation process is impacted by the systemic tendencies of « dominant party » politics, a democratic disconnect within the Turkish society, a weak system of checks and balances, and, most importantly, an inherent intolerance of diversity and plurality. It is in light of these systemic deficiencies that the process of Turkish democratic consolidation is turning into a majoritarian authoritarianism.

Document prepared for the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in the context of the IAI-Istanbul Policy Center-Mercator Foundation project « Turkey, Europe and the World », January 2015.

* Meltem Müftüler-Baç is Professor of International Relations and Jean Monnet Chair at Sabanci University, Istanbul. Emin Fuat Keyman is Director of the Istanbul Policy Center (IPC) and Professor at Sabanci University.

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