Chain‖ of Populism from the Democrat Party to the Justice and Development Party in Turkey
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―CHAIN‖ OF POPULISM FROM THE DEMOCRAT PARTY TO THE JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY IN TURKEY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ESĠN KIVRAK KÖROĞLU IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION JULY 2016 I hereby declare that all information in this document has beenobtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethicalconduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are notoriginal to this work. Name, Last name: Esin Kıvrak Köroğlu Signature: iii ABSTRACT ―CHAIN‖ OF POPULISM FROM THE DEMOCRAT PARTY TO THE JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY IN TURKEY Kıvrak Köroğlu, Esin Ph.D., Department of Political Science and Public Administration Supervisor: Prof. Dr. AyĢe Ayata July 2016, 257 pages This dissertation analyses the relationship between populism and democracy in Turkey from the perspective of Laclau‘s theory on populism, focusing on the Democrat Party and the Justice and Development Party as illustrative cases. As the framework that Laclau developed to the end of studying the phenomenon of populism takes discourse analysis as its methodology, this dissertation addresses the discourse of democracy adopted by the Democrat Party and the Justice and Development Party. The cases of these two political parties fits Laclau‘s theoretical framework perfectly, which provides us with the opportunity to reach key findings on the relationship between populism and democracy in Turkey. Populism is believed to contribute to the further development of democracy at times, and is deemed to be a pathological constituent of democratic systems at others.This dissertation demonstrates that the cases of the Democrat Party and the Justice and Development Party give revealing clues regarding the nature of the relationship between populism and democracy as experienced in Turkey. In this context, while carrying out a discussion on this relationship, this dissertation analyzes the circumstances in which populism contributed to and those in which it impaired democracy in Turkey. Keywords: Populism, Democracy, Laclau‘s Theory of Populism, the Democrat Party, the Justice and Development Party iv ÖZ DEMOKRAT PARTĠDEN ADALET VE KALKINMA PARTĠSĠNE TÜRKĠYE‘DE POPÜLĠZM ZĠNCĠRĠ Kıvrak Köroğlu, Esin Doktora, Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. AyĢe Ayata Temmuz 2016, 257 sayfa Bu tez, Laclau‘nun popülizm teorisi perspektifinden, Demokrat Parti ve Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi örneklerine odaklanarak Türkiye‘de popülizm ve demokrasi arasındaki iliĢkiyi incelemektedir. Laclau‘nun popülizmi incelerken geliĢtirdiği çerçeve, metodoloji olarak söylem analizi yöntemini kullanmaktadır, bu doğrultuda bu tez Demokrat Parti ve Adalet ve Kalkınma Partileri tarafından benimsenen demokrasi söyleminin analizine dayanmaktadır. Laclau‘nun popülizm teorisinde sunduğu çerçeve bu iki örnek olaya uyum sağlamaktadır ve bu çerçeve Türkiye‘de popülizm ve demokrasi arasındaki iliĢki üzerine temel bulgular ortaya koyma imkanı sunmaktadır. Demokratik toplumlarda popülizm bazı dönemlerde demokratik sistemlerin geliĢimine katkı sağlarken bazı dönemlerde demokratik sistemin patolojik bir öğesi olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Bu tezde Demokrat Parti ve Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi örneklerinin bu tartıĢmayı açmak için uygun örnekler olduğu gösterilmiĢtir. Bu örnekler üzerinden Türkiye‘de popülizm ve demokrasi tartıĢması yapılırken Türkiye‘de hangi durumlarda popülizmin demokratik sistemin geliĢimine katkıda bulunduğu, hangi dönemlerde ise demokratik sisteme zarar verdiği analiz edilmiĢtir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Popülizm, Demokrasi, Laclau‘nun Popülizm Teorisi, Demokrat Parti, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi v In the Memory of My Beloved Mother Rufiye Kıvrak (01.07.1950 - 14.06.2015) vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The completion of this dissertation is a major milestone in my life, not only because it is an academic achievement, but also and mainly because it helped me face myself again. I now stand quite far from the point where I started to write this dissertation, and looking back at that point, I see that I have become a new and much stronger person that I had not known before, thanks to this very journey that I undertook. To begin with, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr. AyĢe Ayata for her guidance, patience, constructive comments and warm encouragement throughout this study. Not only did she light the way for me with her exceptional scholarship, but she also helped me see that strong woman inside me, waiting long to be discovered. My heartfelt appreciation goes also to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Canan Aslan Akman and Assoc. Prof Dr. Attila Aytekin, who read and reviewed this dissertation multiple times. I want to thank them for their patience and kindness. Also, the valuable contributions that Prof. Dr. Aylin Özman and Assist. Prof. Güliz Dinç made during the jury have been a great help in putting the finishing touches to this dissertation. My father Ferhat Kıvrak has always known how to get me back on my feet with his invaluable encouraging words whenever I felt exhausted during this long academic journey. I cannot thank him enough for never ever losing his faith in me. I never grew in the eyes of my elder sister Füsun and elder brother Faruk, I have always remained their small sister. It is thanks to them that I have not lost my enthusiasm and excitement. I can never forget the generous support that I received throughout this long journey from Burak Köroğlu, who spent many sleepless nights by my side. And lastly, this dissertation would not have been possible without the support of my dearest mother Rufiye Kıvrak, my true companion who shouldered the burden of this journey with me. I wish more than anything that my mother was alive today and that she could read these lines. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ............................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ................................................................................................................................. v DEDICATION ............................................................................................................. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER 1.INTRODUCTION AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................ 1 1.1. Setting the Problem .................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Methodology ............................................................................................................ 7 1.3. The Organization of the Chapters........................................................................... 10 2.POPULISM ......................................................................................................................... 12 2.1. What is Populism? .................................................................................................. 12 2.2. The Difficulty of Defining Populism as? ............................................................... 17 2.3. Methodology in Studies of Populism: Reading Populism in Different Ways ........ 21 2.3.1. The Empiricist Approach ................................................................................ 23 2.3.2. The Historicist Approach ................................................................................ 24 2.3.3. Sypmtomatic Reading or the Discourse Approach ......................................... 25 2.4. Some Thoughts on the Characteristic Features of Populism .................................. 26 2.5. Historical Accounts of Populism ............................................................................ 34 2.5.1 The Birth of Populism: Russian and American Experiences .......................... 36 2.5.1.1. Contributions of Intellectuals to Populism in Russia: Populism from Cities to Rural Areas ................................................................................................... 37 2.5.1.2. North America: Grassroot Populist Movement ...................................... 40 2.5.2 An Example from the East of the World: Birth of Populism in China ........... 42 2.5.2.1. The People‘s Response to Confucianism................................................ 43 2.5.2.2. The Three Principles of the People: ....................................................... 44 2.5.3 Latin American Populism ............................................................................... 45 2.5.4 Populism in Europe: Conflict between Democracy and Populism ................. 47 viii 2.6. Concluding Remarks .............................................................................................. 52 3 LACLAUAND POPULISM ................................................................................................53