Political Theory and Democracy

This article argues that a common pattern and set of dynamics characterizes severe political and societal polarization in different contexts around the world, with pernicious consequences for democracy. Moving beyond the conventional conceptualization of polarization as ideological distance between political parties a…

• MURAT SOMER

Turkey’s ‘authoritarian turn’ in recent years indicates a democratic breakdown that can best be analysed by analytically distinguishing between two simultaneous developments. The first is the reproduction of Turkey’s long-existing semi-democratic regime – which the article calls old authoritarianism – in a new histori…

• MURAT SOMER

The loss of reform momentum and rising authoritarianism during the most recent phase of AKP government indicate that Turkish democracy is in crisis. Although the Gezi protests emerged as a movement from below reacting to the rising authoritarianism of the AKP government, it did not turn into an organised and sustainab…

• ŞAKİR ZİYA ÖNİŞ

As political and societal polarization deepens, democracies are under stress around the world. This article examines the complex relationship and causal direction between democracy and polarization and posits three theoretical possibilities: (1) polarization contributes to democratic backsliding and decay, (2) polariz…

• MURAT SOMER

On 15 July 2016, Turkey was shaken by an attempted coup. For the first time in modern Turkish history—a history littered with attempted coups—the elected government thwarted the putsch. We suggest that the success of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in defeating the coup attempt is part and parcel of its…

• BERK ESEN

On 15 July 2016, Turkey was shaken by an attempted coup. For the first time in modern Turkish history—a history littered with attempted coups—the elected government thwarted the putsch. We suggest that the success of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in defeating the coup attempt is part and parcel of its…

• BERK ESEN

The crisis of liberal democracy is closely associated with major global shifts, which have been accelerated by the global financial crisis of 2008, with its dislocating effects in the established democracies of the global centre. Relative stagnation and rising problems of inequality and unemployment, coupled with addi…

• ŞAKİR ZİYA ÖNİŞ

The dominant debate on Islam and democracy continues to operate in the realm of normativity. This article engages with key literature showing limits of such a line of inquiry. Through the case study of India’s Islamist organization, Jamaat-e-Islami, I aim at shifting the debate from textual normativity to demotic prax…

• IRFAN AHMAD

No abstract yet.

• İREM İNCEOĞLU

Bu çalışmada demokrasinin önemli bir unsuru olan siyasal katılımın toplumsal cinsiyet ve siyasal yeterlik ile ilişkisi incelenmiştir. Bu kapsamda, öncelikle siyasal katılım, toplumsal cinsiyet ve siyasal yeterlik hakkında bilgi verilmiş, ardından toplumsal cinsiyet ve siyasal yeterliğin siyasal katılım üzerindeki etki…

• DERYA HASDAĞ

India, Brazil and South Africa constitute an important subset of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) and emerging powers at large in a shifting global order. The article examines the capacity of these democratic BRICS to serve as a role model to the rest of the developing world, at a time when libera…

• ŞAKİR ZİYA ÖNİŞ

The aim of the study is to investigate how university students percieve academicians' democratic values, and whether their perceptions on it differ significantly according to certain variables.Designed as a descriptive quantitative research, this study employs of 248 students studying at the Faculty of Education and F…

• CÜNEYT AKAR