A Studv On Turkey’s Democratic Consolidation During JDP’s Ruling Period

Since the beginning of2011, the continuous political turbulence in the West Asia and North African region has been reshaping the political system with serious repercussions for a number of countries in the region. The countries that have been most affected by the turbulence are also exploring new modes of governance. At the same time, Turkey a state bordering on the Arab world with a predominantly Muslim population, has survived the turbulence, and is considered by some to be a "model of democracy." For70years since1945, when its multi-party system first began, Turkey has been undergoing a democratizing process. In1950, the Democrat Party came to power through popular elections, marking Turkey’s successful transition to a multi-party democracy. This process of democratization has been accompanied by a process of urbanization that exerted a far-reaching influence on Turkey’s social and political structure. Differences between social strata and the role of interest groups have become more evident and pronounced. The process of urbanization has drawn people to the "center" from the "edge". The changes in the population structure have produced changes in voter preferences. They have also effected changes in party strategies that have been designed to win votes.Three military coups between1960and1983have disrupted the democratization process in Turkey. The constitution established after the1960coup expanded popular freedoms and civil rights. It also moved the Turkish political spectrum towards more extreme positions on both the left and the right. During the1960s and the1970s, the increase in the number of political parties and the polarization of political ideologies produced unrest and political instability. The1980military coup banned all political parties and party leaders from participating in politics. These measures and the1982constitution that restricted popular freedoms and civil rights reflected the determination of Turkey’s military to actively interfere in politics.At the beginning of the1980s the Turkish government started to carry out economic liberalization reforms. Export-oriented policies replaced import substitution policies and allowed Islamic Turkish capital to grow rapidly. The rapid accumulation of capital also laid a material foundation for the rise of Islamic parties and Islamic movements. In1987the government lifted the ban on participation in politics by former politicians and fully restored democratic politics. In fact, after1983Turkey’s electoral system has never been interrupted. From1990to the beginning of2001, three severe economic crises occurred in Turkey, causing widespread bankruptcies and unemployment. They also caused great damage to small and medium-sized capital. These economic crises led to frequent changes of coalition governments. That, along with the corruption in government, made people lose their confidence in the established political parties. Voters looked for totally new political parties and leaders. This led to the electoral success in2002of the Justice and Development Party (hereinafter referred to as the "JDP"), which was founded in2001.During the JDP’s rule in the2002-2014period, economic development grew steadily. This has brought the party continued support. In the national elections of2002,2007and2011, voting support for the JDP continued to rise, making the JDP the dominant political party. Thus there has been a remarkable transformation of the extreme multi-party system of the1990’s into more of a one party system twenty years later.This dissertation is titled "A Study of Turkey’s Democratic Consolidation During JDP’s Ruling Period." So, has Turkey’s democracy consolidated during JDP’s ruling period? The first chapter of this dissertation introduces the background of democratic consolidation before the JDP came to power. The second through the fourth chapter of the dissertation focus on Turkey’s democratic consolidation during the JDP’s ruling period from three analytical perspectives, namely the political system, actors and political culture. The second chapter examines the components of the Turkish political system, including the constitution, the government, the electoral system and political parties, among others. The third chapter examines the behavior of the major actors in the political system. This includes a review of the evolving democratic attitudes of the ruling party and of such well-established business organizations as TUSIAD, MUSIAD and TUSKON. The chapter also includes studies of the effect on the democratization process of the Gulen movement, Turkey’s Kurds and the media. The fourth chapter studies Turkey’s democratic consolidation during the JDP ruling period from the perspectives of political culture. The concluding chapter then follows.There are three major conclusions of the dissertation. First, from the system’s perspective, Turkey’s constitution contains sections that are inconsistent with democratic principles. The political parties in parliament have been unable to form a consensus on drafting a new constitution. The biggest obstacle for political parties in the Turkish electoral system is the imposition of a threshold of10%of the national vote in order to take seats in the Parliament. Nevertheless, despite this relatively high percentage, the threshold does play a certain role in preventing the fragmentation of the political system in Turkey, even if it raises issues as to the fairness of representation in Parliament. The electoral system and other factors enabled the JDP to become a dominant party. Problems that are always apparent in a dominant party system, such as struggles within the party, corruption etc., have already appeared in Turkey. Therefore, from the system level, Turkey has not achieved complete democratic consolidation.Secondly, from the perspective of the actors, the JDP uses its absolute majority in parliament to create more centralization of power. Different interest groups have different understanding about democracy. The Gulen movement, the most influential organization in Turkish civil society, the Kurdistan Workers Party known as the PKK and the media interpret the concept of democracy according to their own interests. However, on the whole, the above actors are all beneficiaries of Turkey’s democratization who want to maximize their influence on Turkey’s political process. They are the internal driving force of Turkey’s democratic consolidation. In this sense, Turkey has partly implemented its democratic consolidation.Finally, from the perspective of political culture, since the1980s Turkey’s traditional model of a "strong state, weak society" has been gradually changing. The power of civil society has been greatly enhanced. Since the JDP came to power, the traditional relationship between the nation’s center and its edge has changed rapidly. People who were at the edge have quickly flown to the center. This population flow holds out the promise of the realization of multiparty democracy. At the same time, civilian-military relations have also undergone a fundamental change. The military is gradually being pushed out of politics. From these two aspects, Turkey’s democratic consolidation is intensified. However, from the perspective of elite relations, Turkey’s JDP ruling elite is seriously leaning towards more centralization of power day by day. The opposition is not powerful enough to play a balancing role. Therefore, from this point of view, Turkey’s democratic consolidation still has a long way to go.