This thesis attempts to examine the relationship between liberal intellectuals and the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP) in Turkish politics. The Justice and Development Party was elected to power in the 2002 general elections, and has been continually in power since. The rise of the AKP was interpreted as a real historical break in Turkish politics since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, and sparked the emergence of new public discussions and academic debates on the significance of the party to Turkish politics. The rise and rule of the AKP was also prepared by the formation of a group of intellectuals who classified themselves as liberals or democrats, those focused on in this study comprising mainly columnists in Turkish newspapers. This intellectual stratum showed an exceptional sympathy and support towards the AKP, especially between the years 2002-2011, which also corresponded to the establishment of hegemony of the AKP in Turkish politics and the AKP&#039 / s furthering of neo-liberalization. This study analyzes the nature and multiple dimensions of the relationship between liberal intellectuals and the AKP in Turkish politics and within the larger context of neo-liberalism. The study employs concepts of hegemony and passive revolution and intellectuals developed by Antonio Gramsci, as a theoretical framework, and argues that this intellectual stratum provided the AKP with an ideological leadership during the establishment of the hegemony of the party in Turkish politics and contributed to the perpetuation of neo-liberalism in Turkey by the agency of the AKP.

Trough this thesis, it is aimed to study &quot / the conservative-democratic&quot / identity of the Justice and Development Party(AKP), which was established just before the November 3, 2002 elections and has still been running the country as the single party, in the context of the Turkish center-right tradition. Although the AKP comes from the political legancy of the National View Tradition (MG), it has presented itself as a new political formation at least aspiring to a centrist location in the political spectrum.Thus, the AKP puts itself in the political tradition inherited from the Progressive Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the Justice Party, and Turgut &Ouml / zal&#039 / s Motherland Party with an attempt to forge a synthesis between liberal and conservative trends within Turkey around a new social consensus. In this thesis, the components of the &quot / conservative-democratic&quot / rhetoric of the AKP is analyzed to shed light over its conceptualization of democracy, pluralism, social change and secularism.This thesis is presented through an over its rhetoric of &quot / change&quot / . It is argued that the conservative-democratic rhetoric of the party is characterized by ambivalent points, if not contradictions, which reflect the party&#039 / s ongoing search for a distinct position and identity and its aim of appealing to broader sections of the conservative electorate.

The history of football clubs in Turkey is entwined with the political and economic development of Turkey in the twentieth century. This thesis focuses on the history of soccer clubs and the close involvement of the sport with the formation of modern Turkish identity during the late Ottoman period, the early republican period, the multi-party period, and finally the Cold War era. As this study also argues, in addition to their role in identity formation, football clubs were the building blocks of associational life in Turkish democracy and thus represent a major force in the process of democratic deepening in the country. The thesis addresses both the complex political functions and uses of soccer clubs and their economic relationship to the development of Turkish business. Through the twentieth century, the politics behind soccer clubs evolved from an affirmation of national identity to a reassertion of local identity as a challenge to the centralized state system. Increased localization—as evidenced by the rising fortunes of soccer clubs and businesses from Central Anatolia, Turkey’s Muslim heartland—also indicates the increased Islamicization of Turkish society accompanying the advent of the AKP (Justice and Development Party). The changing character of Turkish society and the challenge to traditional secular elites by a rising class of Islamic businessmen from outside of the metropolitan areas—developing businesses concentrated mainly in Central Anatolia—are presented through an analysis of Parliamentary election results since 1962 along with the concurrent change in the geographical transformation of the landscape of Turkish soccer through this period. The study examines the complex, multifaceted interrelationships and lines of mutual determinations between the changing conceptions of Turkish identity, democratic deepening, Islamicization, and the economic development of modern Turkey. This thesis demonstrates how these forces that shape social, political, and economic life are played out on the soccer field. / text

Political success in semi-democratic countries has two aspects: shifting the balance of power in one’s favor and maintaining it. This thesis seeks to examine how the AKP has succeeded in shifting the balance of power in its favor while its predecessor the Welfare Party did not. Focusing on electoral success, existing research primarily lists center-periphery conflict, moderation, class struggle, party organization, and failures of others as the main determinants. Yet the significance of reining in the power of the Kemalist state structure has been mostly disregarded. Therefore, with a comparison of the AKP (2002-2007) and the Welfare Party (1996-1997) governments, this study tests one assertion using most-similar systems research design that in semi-democratic political settings with strong authoritarian actors, political parties that build broad coalitions via group specific policy promises will be more likely to shift the balance of power in favor of themselves than actors that lack such connections.

Conceptually the aims of this thesis are to show the salient features of the political reproduction of states as a necessity for their survival as they continually face a double-security dilemma in the neoliberal era. Empirically this thesis examines Turkey’s ruling party from 2002 to 2015. The Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) maintained authority by mitigating the polities and actors that posed vertical and horizontal competition to their power (the double-security dilemma of domestic and international threats faced by state rulers). To outcompete and absorb its rivals, the AKP maintained a post-Islamist alliance-building model of political reproduction through a globalized Islamic neoliberal authority pattern until 2011. This became popularized as the ‘Turkish Model’, a model of political reproduction framed as suitable for other Muslim-majority states. The findings from data analysis show that to maintain the constitutive sovereignty of the Turkish state, the AKP built a post-Islamist hegemony. Furthermore, this thesis explores how the AKP horizontally built a pluralist vision of neo-ottomanism enabling their navigation of the international political system. Their ‘zero-problems’ foreign policy was the cornerstone of building regional liberal peace. This policy was the basis of the AKP’s maintenance of functional sovereignty until the ‘Arab Spring’. Yet, the new double-security dilemma that emerged through the ‘Arab Spring’ not only threatened the existence of post-Islamism within Turkey, but the existence of the ‘Turkish Model’ itself. The AKP then moved towards a fortifying pattern of authority to shield both themselves and the Republic from emergent threats / Marie Curie European Commission Sustainable Peacebuilding Project through Sabancı University and the Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust.

No description available.

Political success in semi-democratic countries has two aspects: shifting the balance of power in one’s favor and maintaining it. This thesis seeks to examine how the AKP has succeeded in shifting the balance of power in its favor while its predecessor the Welfare Party did not. Focusing on electoral success, existing research primarily lists center-periphery conflict, moderation, class struggle, party organization, and failures of others as the main determinants. Yet the significance of reining in the power of the Kemalist state structure has been mostly disregarded. Therefore, with a comparison of the AKP (2002-2007) and the Welfare Party (1996-1997) governments, this study tests one assertion using most-similar systems research design that in semi-democratic political settings with strong authoritarian actors, political parties that build broad coalitions via group specific policy promises will be more likely to shift the balance of power in favor of themselves than actors that lack such connections.

This thesis aims to analyze the Turkish foreign policy towards the State of Israel in a historical perspective and to examine how the foreign policy perceptions of the AKP Government having Islamic roots that came to power in 2002 affected this policy. The thesis argues that, historically, the Western connection of the Turkish Republic has determined the Turkish foreign policy towards Israel and the foreign policy perceptions of the AKP Government strengthened this connection rather than weakening it. It is argued that, the fundamental reason underlying this situation is the efforts of the AKP Government to use its compromising foreign policy as a leverage against the constitutional legitimacy question it faced in domestic politics. As a result, during the AKP era, it is concluded that, Turkish foreign policy towards Israel has not undergone fundamental changes at least as long as the domestic legitimacy question exists.

This thesis examines perspectives of the two influential U.S. think tanks, the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations, on Turkish foreign policy under the leadership of the Justice and Development Party (JDP) from 2002 to 2010. It attempts to analyze the perceptions of the noted institutions about the JDP&rsquo / s foreign policy by referencing their reports, articles, interviews and seminars. The study had four aims. First, it aims to analyze the JDP&rsquo / s foreign policy in the eyes of the two think tanks. Second, it shows the objective of the two institutions for shaping the framework of the discussions on the United States-Turkey relations and Turkish foreign policy by emphasizing the epistemic community. Third, this thesis intends to clarify divergences and convergences in the perceptions of the two think tanks. Fourth, it indicates the continuity, change and rupture in the JDP&rsquo / s foreign policy choices from the viewpoint of the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations. Consequently, the thesis states that &ldquo / the given framework&rdquo / in the relations between the United States and Turkey has been largely determined by the U.S.&rsquo / activities.

Through this thesis, it is aimed to study the democracy understanding of the Welfare Party (the WP), which was closed down in 1998 by the decision of the Constitutional Court, and the Justice and Development Party (the JDP), which leaved the November 2002 general elections as the leading party and has still been running the country as the single party, in a comparative way. Since the foundation of the JDP, the founders have presented the JDP as a new political formation, which is different from the WP, with which it shares the same political legacy of a tradition (National Outlook Tradition). In that context, through this thesis, the change of claim of the JDP&rsquo / s founders is tried to analyze by settling democracy understanding of these two parties to the center of the study and clarifying the points f change and continuity. The comprehension is tried to do by studying these two parties&rsquo / understanding of society and politics and analyzing how these two parties define and discuss the term of democracy and related concepts such laicism, human rights, participative democracy, pluralist democracy in their discourse. The internal and external factors that affected the parties&rsquo / both the understandings of society and politics / and definition of the term of democracy and related concepts have also been studied. The official party documents, the statements of party authorities and the books of Milli G&ouml / r&uuml / S and Muhafazakar Demokrasi are referred as the primarily resources and the main relevant studies of the Turkish political history literature about the political Islam, state-religion relation, National Outlook have also referred as the secondary resources.