Analyzing a Political System in Transformation: Turkish Politics under the AKP (Advanced seminar, FSS 2018, Constantin Schäfer)

Transcription

1 Analyzing a Political System in Transformation: Turkish Politics under the AKP (Advanced seminar, FSS 2018, Constantin Schäfer) Dates and Location Tuesday, 12:00 13:30 [ ] A5,6 Room B 318 Instructor Constantin Schäfer Office: A5,6 Room A constantin.schaefer@uni-mannheim.de Phone: Office hours: Tuesday, 15:00-17:00 (please send an before coming) Abstract In recent years the political system of Turkey has experienced severe changes. Since the AK party came into power in 2002, the former multi-party system has shifted towards a system with only one dominant political party. Moreover, the constitutional referendum of 2017 has completed the institutional change from a parliamentary to a presidential type of government. Lastly, the repressive reactions from the Turkish government after the failed coup d état of 2016 have moved the political regime closer to an illiberal competitive authoritarianism, which has significantly reduced the country s chances of accession to the European Union. In this seminar, we will try to understand and analyze those developments from different perspectives. We will first study the historical development of the Turkish Republic, its transition to democracy and its institutional restructurings after several military interventions in the second half of the 20 th century. Second, we will analyze Turkey s current political system, especially with regard to its regime type, its form of government and its party system. Third, we will focus on specific features of Turkish society and politics, such as the Kemalist legacy, the role of religion, the Kurdish question and the EU accession process. Fourth, we will also deal with the electoral behavior and political participation of Turkish citizens, before we discuss the future of the Turkish Republic. Overall, the aim of this course is to connect theoretical concepts of comparative politics to a practical example (Turkey) that offers a rich (recent) history of institutional changes and exciting developments. The participating students will learn to apply these analytical tools and will develop a deeper understanding for current issues of Turkish politics. For that purpose, students are assigned weekly readings that have to be read and prepared on a regular basis, as well as one group presentation after the Easter break (Studienleistung). After the term, students write a research paper in the form of a literature review or an empirical study, which answers a research question connected to the topics discussed in class (Prüfungsleistung). The idea for this research paper has to be presented in the last session of the semester.

2 How to succeed: 1. Weekly preparation of mandatory readings All readings are available in digital form on ILIAS It is highly recommended to bring printed copies of all readings and writing materials to the class, as we will work on the texts (seminars are not lectures) Please be aware that the readings are essential for a successful participation and fruitful discussions in class that are beneficial for everyone At times, the readings are accompanied with written homework which then have to be uploaded to ILIAS until the respective lesson (will be announced) 2. Holding a group presentation Presentations are held in the seventh and eighth session (due to the high number of participants one of them will be a double session) Students are asked to choose one of the topics provided by the instructor until the sixth session (before the Easter break), which will result in presentation groups of 2-3 students Literature for the presentations will be provided in ILIAS, but students are also asked to search for own sources Each presentation will be approximately minutes long and covers a specific feature/issue of Turkish politics Students are asked to present both the historic as well as the current relevance of these features while including various sources of literature Students are required to use slides for their presentation and to provide (printed) handouts that summarize the presentation for the other participants and indicate the sources used (please use a consistent bibliographic style) 3. Writing a research paper Research papers should answer a research question that is developed from the subjects and contents covered in this course A short written research proposal needs to be submitted before the research idea is presented in the last session of the course (29.05), which will be a double session due to the number of participants The length of the paper should be around 5,000 words (+/- 10%) and it needs to be submitted electronically or in print (including a signed declaration of authorship) Deadline for the final research paper: 15 July 2018 (11.59 p.m.) The grade for the research paper makes up the final grade for this course

3 Schedule and mandatory readings Session 1: Introduction Sessions 1-3: The historical background of contemporary Turkish politics Session 2: The Emergence of the Modern Turkish Republic and its Road to Democracy Keyman, E. Fuat & Gumuscu, Sebnem (2014): Democracy, Identity, and Foreign Policy in Turkey. Hegemony Through Transformation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan [ch.2: Turkey s Transformation ]: Öktem, Kerem (2011): Angry Nation. Turkey since London/New York: Zed Books [ch.1: Empire and nation before 1980 ; ch.2: The Özal years ]: Turan, Ilter (2014): Two steps forward, one step back. Turkey s democratic transformation. In: Rodriguez, Carmen; Avalos, Antonio; Yilmaz, Hakan & Planet, Ana I. (eds.): Turkey s Democratization Process. Milton Park/New York: Routledge: Session 3: The Rise of the AKP and Recep Tayyip Erdogan Keyman, E. Fuat & Gumuscu, Sebnem (2014): Democracy, Identity, and Foreign Policy in Turkey. Hegemony Through Transformation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan [ch.3: Constructing Hegemony: The AKP Rule ]: Öktem, Kerem (2011): Angry Nation. Turkey since London/New York: Zed Books [ch.3: The lost decade ; ch.4: Justice and development: Islamic Calvinists versus the guardian state ]: Waldman, Simon A. & Caliskan, Emre (2017): The New Turkey and Its Discontents. New York: Oxford University Press [ch.2: The Irresistible Rise of the AKP ]: Sessions 4-6: Analyzing Turkey s political system Session 4: Social Cleavages and the Changing Party System Ayan Musil, Pelin (2015): Emergence of a Dominant Party System After Multipartyism: Theoretical Implications from the Case of the AKP in Turkey. South European Society and Politics 20(1): Aydogan, Abdullah & Slapin, Jonathan B. (2015): Left-right reversed: Parties and ideology in modern Turkey. Party Politics 21(4): Özbudun, Ergun (2013): Party Politics and Social Cleavages in Turkey. Lynne Riener Publishers. [ch.1: The Party System and Social Cleaves in Turkey ; ch.3: The Impact of Social Cleavages ; ch.4: The Three Maladies: Fragmentation, Volatility, and Polarization ]: 1-12, Session 5: Constitutions, Institutions and Forms of Government Aslan Akman, Canan & Pınar Akçalı (2017): Changing the system through instrumentalizing weak political institutions: the quest for a presidential system in Turkey in historical and comparative perspective." Turkish Studies 18(4):

4 Özbudun, Ergun (2012): Constitutions and Political System. In: Heper, Metin & Sayari, Sabri (eds.): The Routledge Handbook of Modern Turkey. Milton Park/New York: Routledge: Özbudun, Ergun (2013): Presidentialism versus Parliamentarism in Turkey. In: Aydın-Düzgit, Senem; Duncker, Anne; Huber, Daniela; Keyman, E. Fuat; Tocci, Nathalie (eds.): Global Turkey in Europe. Political, Economic, and Foreign Policy Dimensions of Turkey's Evolving Relationship with the EU. Rome: Edizioni Nuova Cultura: Özsoy Boyunsuz, Şule (2016): The AKP'S proposal for a Turkish type of presidentialism in comparative context." Turkish Studies 17(1): Yegen, Oya (2017): Constitutional Changes under the AKP Government of Turkey. Tijdschrift voor Constitutioneel Recht 1/2017: Session 6: The Drift of the Regime Towards Majoritarianism and Authoritarianism Akkoyunlu, Karabekir & Öktem, Kerem (2016): Existential insecurity and the making of a weak authoritarian regime in Turkey. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 16(4): Bermeo, Nancy (2016): On Democratic Backsliding. Journal of Democracy 27(1): Esen, Berk & Gumuscu, Sebnem (2016): Rising competitive authoritarianism in Turkey. Third World Quarterly 37(9): Kubicek, Paul (2016): Majoritarian Democracy in Turkey. In: Erisen, Cengiz & Kubicek, Paul (eds.): Democratic consolidation in Turkey: Micro and macro challenges. London/New York: Routledge: / Easter break No session (due to conference attendance) Sessions 7-8: Group presentations of various subjects Session 7: Group Presentations I Session 8: Group Presentations II Session cancelled (due to national holidays) Sessions 9-10: The Political Sociology of Turkey Session 9: Political Culture and Voting Behavior Aytaç, S. Erdem; Çarkoğlu, Ali & Yıldırım, Kerem (2017): Taking sides: Determinants of support for a presidential system in Turkey. South European Society and Politics 22(1): Gidengil, Elisabeth & Karakoç, Ekrem (2016): Which matters more in the electoral success of Islamist (successor) parties religion or performance? The Turkish case. Party Politics 22(3): Kalaycıoğlu, Ersin (2012): Political culture. In: Heper, Metin & Sayari, Sabri (eds.): The Routledge Handbook of Modern Turkey. Milton Park/New York: Routledge:

5 Yeşilada, Birol & Noordijk, Peter (2016): Religiosity and political values in post-2000 Turkey. In: Erisen, Cengiz & Kubicek, Paul (eds.): Democratic consolidation in Turkey: Micro and macro challenges. London/New York: Routledge: Session 10: Political Participation and Social Movements Chrona, Stavroula & Capelos, Tereza (2017): The political psychology of participation in Turkey: civic engagement, basic values, political sophistication and the young. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 17(1): Inan, Murat & Grasso, Maria T. (2017): A participatory generation? The generational and social class bases of political activism in Turkey. Turkish Studies 18(1): Varnali, Kaan & Gorgulu, Vehbi (2015): A social influence perspective on expressive political participation in Twitter: the case of #OccupyGezi. Information, Communication & Society 18(1): Session 11: Current Issues and the Future of the Turkish Republic Guest lecture by Savaş Genç, University of Heidelberg (previously Fatih University, Istanbul) Session 12: Presentation of Research Ideas (double session) Recent books on Turkey (German and English) Aydin, Yasar (2017): Türkei. Schwalbach: Wochenschau Verlag [Analyse Politischer Systeme, Bd.7]. Baser, Bahar & Öztürk, Ahmet Erdi (eds.) (2017): Authoritarian Politics in Turkey. Elections, Resistance and the AKP. London/New York: IB Tauris. Grigoriadis, Ioannis N. (2018): Democratic Transition and the Rise of Populist Majoritarianism. Constitutional Reform in Greece and Turkey. Palgrave Macmillan. Waldman, Simon A. & Caliskan, Emre (2017): The New Turkey and its Discontents. London: Hurst. Topics for the group presentations From 'zero problems' to 'zero friends'? Foreign policy under the AKP Human rights in Turkey I: Freedom of expression and media, freedom of assembly and association Human rights in Turkey II: Minority and LGBT rights, gender equality and the role of women Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his legacy: evolution of the CHP and the role of Kemalism today Secularism vs. Political Islam: The role of religion in Turkish politics The end of the tutelary regime? The declining role of the military in Turkish politics The Kurdish question and the fight on terror against the PKK Turkey and the European Union: History and future of a love-hate relationship