Democratic Consolidation in Turkey

Abstract

Although Turkey began its transition to democracy as early as the 1950s, it is still far from having reached a level of consolidated democracy with the country's sixty-year history of democratic politics being punctuated by numerous breakdowns and restorations of democracy. In an attempt to examine why consolidation of Turkish democracy has taken so long, this book aims at analyzing various factors including state, political parties, civil society, civil-military relations, socio-economic development, the EU as an international actor and the rise of internal threats (political Islam and separatist Kurdish nationalism) that both hinder and enhance democratic consolidation in Turkey. By highlighting the strengths and shortcomings of the Turkish experience from these perspectives, this book suggests the optimal policy priorities for current and future Turkish governments to establish a consolidated democracy in Turkey.

Contributors:
Muge Aknur, Canan Aslan-Akman, Filiz Baskan, Gulgun Erdogan-Tosun, Siret Hursoy, Aysegul Komsuoglu, Gul M. Kurtoglu-Eskisar, Yesim Kustepeli, Nazif Mandaci, Ibrahim Saylan, & Ugur Burc Yildiz.

About the Author

Muge Aknur is Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey. She received her M.A. in International Relations from Elliott School of International Affairs of George Washington University, and her Ph.D. in Political Science from McGill University. Her research interests include democracy, democratization, democratic consolidation, civil-military relations, Turkish foreign policy, and Middle East politics. Her publications include books and articles on political liberalization in the Middle East, Turkish foreign policy and civil-military relations in Turkey.