EFFECTS OF THE GEZI PARK MOVEMENT ON RENEWAL OF THE DEMOCRATIZATION DEBATE IN TURKEY
Journal Title: The Copernicus Journal of Political Studies - Year 2016, Vol 0, Issue 1
Abstract
The text presents the history of attempts at democratization of the political system in Turkey, where despite the nominal presence of democratic institutions, changes traditionally have come from the top. Following a brief presentation of the unsuccessful civil movements from the 1970s onwards, it focuses on the 2010s transition in approaches to building democratic culture, and in particular on the Gezi Park resistance, where a relatively minor local issue sparked a country-wide citizens’ protest against the conservative democracy of the ruling AK Party. The event is shown as an entirely new type of protest, a spontaneous civil movement with horizontal structure, inspired by the Occupy movements, and an expression of the new generation’s approach to politics. It also gave rise to a movement which contributed to rethinking the Turkish democratization process by breaking with the established thinking with a bottom-to-top approach.
Authors and Affiliations
Yavuz Yildirim
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP500982
- DOI 10.12775/CJPS.2016.005
- Views 47
- Downloads 0
DEVELOPMENT VERSUS DISPLACEMENT DILEMMA IN WEST BENGAL: UNRAVELING A GANDHIAN SOLUTION
The tendency to equate economic growth with industrialization has in the recent past started a violent and bloody movement in the Indian state of West Bengal. The movement that started against forced acquisition of agric...
TRUST, TRUTH AND TRUCE TRAPPED IN HYBRIDITY OF MODERN INTER-STATE CONFLICTS: AN EARLY ASSESSMENT OF THE RUSSO-WESTERN PROXY WAR IN UKRAINE
Russo-Western relations after the declared end of the Cold War, just as on the eve and in the middle of it, have been fraught with developments pointing towards the persisting distrust and disgust in one another’s percep...
PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING IN POLAND – ASSUMPTIONS VS REALITY
Sherry Arnstein (1969), the author of the participation ladder, emphasizes that "social participation” resembles spinach eating – basically no one is against because in the end it is healthy. The article presents differe...
ENRIQUE PEÑA NIETO’S EDUCATION REFORM IN THE WAITING ROOM
The analysis provided in this article aims to explain and disclose the processes that have influenced the education system in Mexico since the Aztec Empire, until the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto. One of the issues p...
THE EU’S EASTERN PARTNERSHIP IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: USING GEORGIA AS A MODEL TO UNDERSTAND REFORMS AND SECURITY CHALLENGES
The main goal of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) is political and economic stabilization of the region threatened both by its post-Soviet systemic predicaments such as weakness of state institutions, the gap between the ru...