Turkey’s Journey to Consolidate Liberal Democracy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14666/2194-7759-5-1-002Keywords:
Turkey, Islamism, Democracy, Liberalism, Sequencing, Path-DependenceAbstract
This research looks at Turkey's journey for democratization in its historical context for the last two hundred years with the objective to assess whether the process is strictly path-dependent. The study for this paper is based on empirical evidence found in academic literature, documents readily available in the public domain, and public statements from primary sources of academic, civil, and diplomatic backgrounds. Considering a dilemma of whether it is possible to build liberal institutions in a repressive system or it would be better to build liberal institutions and a democratic electoral system simultaneously, this research finds that repressive regimes undermine liberal institutions and offer an unrealistic alternative to a gradual, inclusive evolution of democracy. What distinguished modern Turkey from autocratic regimes of the Middle East is not electoral majoritarianism that pre-conditioned a strict sequencing of public order and liberalization first, but the embodiment of democratic principles and citizenship rights into state-building from very early on. The rise of Islamism in Turkey and deviation from the goal of institutionalized liberal democracy to authoritarianism threatens to overturn the gradual evolution of democracy in Turkish society.
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