Abstract
Turkish party system in the 1990s was fragmented. Unstable and short-lived coalition governments were the most common form of government. The political and economic instability of the period was claimed to be a consequence of the lack of cooperation at the elite level. The 2000s, on the other hand, presented a dramatic change to the party system as the fragmented system initially transformed from a multi-party system to a two-party system and then to a predominant party system. The latest shift in the institutional transformation from a parliamentary system to a presidential one brought about a change in electing the executive. Instead of applying proportional representation in elections, a majoritarian view of democracy has been installed. This chapter would provide a descriptive account of the remarkable transformation of political party and electoral system in Turkey in the last two decades.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Arslantaş, D., & Arslantaş, Ş. (2020). Keeping power through opposition: Party system changes in Turkey. New Perspectives on Turkey, 62, 27–50.
Çarkoğlu, A. (2011). Turkey’s 2011 general elections: Towards a dominant party system? Insight Turkey, 13(3), 43–62.
Caramani, D. (2020). Party systems. In D. Caramani (Ed.), Comparative politics (5th ed., pp. 231–257). Oxford University Press.
Çınar, K. (2019). The decline of democracy in Turkey: A comparative study of hegemonic party rule. Routledge.
Croissant, A., & Völkel, P. (2012). Party system types and party system institutionalization: Comparing new democracies in East and Southeast Asia. Party Politics, 18(2), 235–265.
Duverger, M. (1954). Political parties: Their organization and activity in the modern state. Wiley.
Downs, A. (1957). An economic theory of democracy. Harper & Row.
Esen, B., & Ciddi, S. (2011). Turkey’s 2011 elections: An emerging dominant party system. MERIA Journal, 15(3), 19–31.
Laebens, M. G., & Öztürk, A. (2021). Partisanship and autocratization: Polarization, power asymmetry, and partisan social identities in Turkey. Comparative Political Studies, 54(2), 245–279.
Somer, M. (2019). Turkey: The slippery slope from reformist to revolutionary polarization and democratic breakdown. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 681(1), 42–61.
Gumuscu, Ş. (2013). The emerging predominant party system in Turkey. Government and Opposition, 48(2), 223–244.
Kalaycioglu, E. (2013). Turkish party system: Leaders, vote and institutionalization. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 13(4), 483–502.
Kitschelt, H., & Wilkinson, S. I. (Eds). (2007). Patrons, clients and policies: Patterns of democratic accountability and political competition. Cambridge University Press.
LaPalombara, J., & Weiner, M. (1966). Political parties and political development. Princeton University Press.
Lipset, S. M., & Rokkan, S. (1967). Cleavage structures, party systems, and voter alignments: An introduction’. In S. M. Lipset & S. Rokkan (Eds.), Party systems and voter alignments: Cross-national perspectives (pp. 1–64). The Free Press.
Mardin, Ş. (1973). Center-periphery relations: A key to Turkish politics? Daedalus, 169–190.
Mair, P. (2002). Comparing party systems”. In L. LeDuc, R. G. Niemi, & P. Norris (Eds.), Comparing democracies 2: New challenges in the study of elections and voting (pp. 88–107). Sage.
Mete-Dokucu, H., & Just, A. (2022). Party system polarization in developing democracies: The case of Turkey, 1950–2018. Turkish Studies, 23(3), 331–353.
Moral, M. (2021). Politics as (un) usual? An overview of the June 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey. In A. Çarkoğlu & E. Kalaycıoğlu (Eds.), Elections and public opinion in Turkey (pp. 22–47). Routledge.
Öney, B., & Selck, T. J. (2017). Exploring the level of party system institutionalization and party system type in Turkey: A convergence with established or new democracies? Turkish Studies, 18(2), 209–228.
Özbudun, E. (2013). Party Politics & social cleavages in Turkey. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Özbudun, E. (2006). Changes and continuities in the Turkish party system. Representation, 42(2), 129–137.
Sayari, S. (2007). Towards a new Turkish party system? Turkish Studies, 8(2), 197–210.
Siaroff, A. (2019). Comparative European party systems: An analysis of parliamentary elections since 1945. Routledge.
Sartori, G. (1976). Parties and party systems: A framework for analysis. Cambridge University Press.
Turan, İ. (2019). Turkey’s never-ending search for democracy. In A. Özerdem & M. Whiting (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Turkish politics (pp. 2027–2036). Routledge.
Wolinetz, S. B. (2006). Party systems and party system types. In R. S. Katz & W. J. Crotty (Eds.), Handbook of party politics (pp. 51–62). Sage.
Yardımcı-Geyikçi, Ş. (2018). Party system institutionalisation and democratic consolidation: The case of Turkey. In S. Sayarı, P. A. Musil, & Ö. Demirkol (Eds.), Party politics in Turkey (pp. 216–238). Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ecevit, Y. (2023). Transformation of Party and Election System in Turkey. In: Arıkan, H., Alemdar, Z. (eds) Turkey’s Challenges and Transformation. Reform and Transition in the Mediterranean. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25799-5_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25799-5_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-25798-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-25799-5
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)