Political and Social Issues in Contemporary Turkey
eatuk1@gsu.edu.tr
Content
Objective
This course offers an in-depth analysis of the political and social dynamics of contemporary Turkey, combining historical, institutional, and sociological approaches.
Course Content
The course aims to:
- provide lasting analytical frameworks for understanding present-day Turkey;
- situate recent political developments within a long-term perspective;
- analyze transformations in the political regime, social cleavages, and forms of mobilization;
- develop students’ critical and comparative analytical skills, particularly in relation to European and Mediterranean political systems.
The course is designed for Erasmus students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, with no prior specialization in Turkish studies.
Course Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
1. Understanding and contextualizing
Identify and explain the main historical, political, and social dynamics shaping contemporary Turkey.
2. Using analytical concepts
Apply key concepts from political science to analyze the case of Turkey.
3. Critically analyzing a political regime
Describe and assess transformations in the Turkish political regime, particularly recent developments related to presidentialization and polarization.
4. Understanding contemporary socio-political issues
Analyze key issues in Turkey’s current political landscape.
5. Developping structured and evidence-based analysis
Formulate clear, structured, and well-argued analyses, both in written and oral form, drawing on relevant academic references and a well-defined research question.
Teaching and Learning Methods
Each session combines lectures, collective discussion, and the analysis of documents (texts, data, and media excerpts).
References
Şerif Mardin, « Center-Periphery Relations: A Key to Turkish Politics? », Daedalus, Vol. 102, No. 1, Post-Traditional Societies (Winter, 1973), pp. 169- 190.
Erik J. Zürcher, Turkey. A Modern History, I.B.Tauris & Co., 4th ed., « The Rule of the Democratic Party. 1950-60 », pp. 223-243.
Asım Karaömerlioğlu, « Turkey’s ‘Return’ to Multi-Party Politics : A Social Interpretation », East European Quarterly, XL, No. 1, March 2006, p. 89-94.
Semih Vaner, « Système partisan, clivages politiques et classes sociales en Turquie (1960-1981) », CEMOTI, No. 1, 1985.
Birol Akgün, « Aspects of Party System Development in Turkey », Turkish Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2001.
Frank Tachau, « Turkish Political Parties and Elections : Half a Century of Multiparty Democracy », Turkish Studies, Vol.1, No. 1, Spring 2000, pp. 128- 148.
Gilles Dorronsoro, Benjamin Gourisse, « Une clé de lecture du politique en Turquie : les rapports État-Partis », Politix, Volume 27 - n°107/2014, p. 195-218.
İsmet Akça, “Hegemonic Projects in post 1980s Turkey and the Changing forms of Authoritarianism,” in Turkey Reframed: Constituting Neoliberal Hegemony, İsmet Akça et. al. (eds) (London: Pluto Books, 2014).
Feroz Ahmad, « Military Intervention and the Crisis in Turkey », MERIP Reports, No. 93, Turkey: The Generals Take Over (January 1981), pp. 5-24.
Nicolas Monceau, « L’armée et le pouvoir politique en Turquie », Diplomatie, novembre-décembre 2016, No 83, pp. 8-12.
Ahmet İnsel, La nouvelle Turquie d’Erdoğan, La Découverte, « Poche / Essais », 2017. URL : https://www.cairn.info/la-nouvelle-turquie-d-erdogan--9782707194275.htm
Alain Bockel, « La réforme constitutionnelle en Turquie : la démocratie à la dérive », Revue française de Droit constitutionnel, 2019/3 (No 119), pp. 641-664.
Zafer Yılmaz, « Erdoğan’s presidential regime and strategic legalism: Turkish democracy in the twilight zone », Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 20:2, 2020, 265-287.
Senem Aydın-Düzgit, Evren Balta, « When elites polarize over polarization: Framing the polarization debate in Turkey », New Perspectives on Turkey, No. 60 (2019): 153-176.
Berk Esen, Şebnem Gümüşçü, « Killing Competitive Authoritarianism Softly: The 2019 Local Elections in Turkey », South European Society and Politics, 24:3, 2019, 317-342.
Berk Esen, Şebnem Gümüşçü, Hakan Yavuzyılmaz, « Competitive yet unfair: May 2023 elections and authoritarian resilience in Turkey », South European Society and Politics, 28:3, 2023, 359-387.
Jean Marcou, Füsun Üstel, Deniz Vardar, « La République en France et en Turquie », Revue internationale de politique comparée, vol.7, No. 3, 2000.
Jean-Paul Burdy, Jean Marcou, « Laïcité / Laiklik : Introduction », CEMOTI, No. 19 – Laïcité(s) en France et en Turquie, janvier-juin 1995, p. 5-34.
Ziya Öniş, « The Political Economy of Islamic Resurgence in Turkey : The Rise of the Welfare Party in Perspective », Third World Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4, 1997.
Jean Marcou, « Islamisme et post-islamisme en Turquie », Revue internationale de politique comparée, Vol. 11, No. 4, 2004.
Élise Massicard, « L’organisation des rapports entre État et religion en Turquie », Cahiers de la recherche sur les droits fondamentaux, 4, 2005. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/crdf/7333
Ergun Özbudun, « From Political Islam to Conservative Democracy: The Case of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey », South European Society & Politics, Vol. 11, No. 3–4, September–December 2006.
William Hale and Ergun Özbudun, Islamism, Democracy and Liberalism in Turkey, Routledge, 2010.
Olivier Grosjean, « Entre dynamiques locales, régionales et internationales : les reconfigurations de la question kurde en Turquie », Mouvements, 2017/2 (n° 90), 149-156.
Hamit Bozarslan, La question kurde, Presses de Sciences Po, 1997, Ch. 2, pp. 97-141.
Martin van Bruinessen, « Kurdish identities and Kurdish nationalisms in the early twenty-first century », 2016. [En Turc : Martin van Bruinessen, « Erken 21. Yüzyılda Kürt Kimlikleri ve Kürt Milliyetçilikleri », in : Elçin Aktoprak & A. Celil Kaya (eds), 21. Yüzyılda Milliyetçilik: Teori ve Siyaset. Istanbul : İletişim, 2016, pp. 349-373.]
Kemal Kirişçi, Gareth Winrow, The Kurdish Question and Turkey, Routledge, 1997.
Martin van Bruinessen, « The Kurds as objects and subjects of historiography : Turkish and Kurdish nationalists struggling over identity » in Fabian Richter (ed.), Identität Ethnizität und Nationalismus in Kurdistan. Münster : Lit Verlag, 2016, pp. 13-61.
Bilge Yeşil, « Authoritarian Turn or Continuity? Governance of Media through Capture and Discipline in the AKP Era », South European Society and Politics, 23:2, 2018, pp. 239-257.
Ergin Bulut, Başak Can, « Media, Affect, and Authoritarian Futures in “New Turkey” : Spectacular Confessions on Television in the Post-Coup Era », Communication, Culture and Critique, Volume 13, Issue 4, December 2020, pp. 403–421.
Hakkı Taş, « The 15 July abortive coup and post-truth politics in Turkey », Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, Volume 18, Issue 1, 2018.
Jean-François Polo, Füsun Üstel, « Les nouvelles orientations de la politique culturelle turque : à la recherche d'un modèle conservateur alternatif ? », Pôle Sud, 41(2), 2014, pp. 17-32.
Weekly Contents
| Week | Weekly Contents |
|---|---|
| 1 | General introduction: Contemporary Turkey — why is it so complex? |
| 2 | The legacy of the Ottoman Empire and socio-political cleavages on the eve of the Republic |
| 3 | Historical political cleavages and elections – I: From the single-party period to moderate bipartyism (1923–1950) |
| 4 | Historical political cleavages and elections – II: Institutionalization of the left–right cleavage (1950–1973) |
| 5 | Historical political cleavages and elections – III: Polarized multipartyism and political instability (1973–2002) |
| 6 | A history of the political instrumentalization of religion (1876–1994) |
| 7 | The February 28 process (1997), the “post-modern coup”: from the National Vision parties to the AKP |
| 8 | The political climate of the 2000s: Polarization, authoritarianism, populism? |
| 9 | The “presidential government system” and its implications |
| 10 | The “Kurdish question”: A historical overview |
| 11 | Social movements and youth in contemporary Turkey |
| 12 | Political communication and the state of democracy |
| 13 | The AKP’s cultural policies |
| 14 | Conclusion and future perspectives |
Assessment System
| Activities | Number | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Contribution of in-term studies to overall grade | 3 | 40 |
| Contribution of final exam to overall grade | 1 | 60 |
| Total | 4 | 100 |
| Activities | Number | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Assignments | 1 | 60 |
| Presentation | 0 | 0 |
| Midterm Examinations (including preparation) | 0 | 0 |
| Project | 0 | 0 |
| Laboratory | 0 | 0 |
| Other Applications | 0 | 0 |
| Quiz | 2 | 40 |
| Term Paper/ Project | 0 | 0 |
| Portfolio Study | 0 | 0 |
| Reports | 0 | 0 |
| Learning Diary | 0 | 0 |
| Thesis/ Project | 0 | 0 |
| Seminar | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 0 | 0 |
| Make-up | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 3 | 100 |
Relation of Proficiency
| No | Program Learning Outcomes | Contribution | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | Understanding the major theories, concepts, foundations, and methodologies used in the study of politics. | X | ||||
| 2 | Identifying the structure and operation of the political system in Turkey and other political systems in the world. | X | ||||
| 3 | Identifying and gathering information from credible primary and secondary sources; analyzing and synthesizing the acquired knowledge. | X | ||||
| 4 | Generating and testing empirically hypotheses about political processes, institutions, mechanisms and relationships. | X | ||||
| 5 | Designing, conducting and interpreting the results of original research in accordance with the scientific and ethical principles by using basic research methods. | X | ||||
| 6 | Showing awareness and sensivity towards issues related to democracy, human rights and social peace. | X | ||||
| 7 | Appraising the sources of societal conflict and how they can be resolved by political means. | X | ||||
| 8 | Examining critically the nature of change in the global political community, and the complex character of processes such as globalization. | X | ||||
| 9 | Taking a role in a teamwork in political science and general fields of other related disciplines. | X | ||||
| 10 | Following publications in foreign languages and communicating with the colleagues in the international environment by using French which is the language of education in Galatasaray University and English, the compulsory foreign language. | X | ||||
| 11 | Using required level of information and communication technologies. | X | ||||
ECTS
| Activities | Number | Period | Total Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class Hours | 14 | 3 | 42 |
| Working Hours out of Class | 12 | 4 | 48 |
| Assignments | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Presentation | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midterm Examinations (including preparation) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Project | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Laboratory | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Applications | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Final Examinations (including preparation) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Quiz | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Term Paper/ Project | 1 | 24 | 24 |
| Portfolio Study | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Learning Diary | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Thesis/ Project | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seminar | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Make-up | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yıl Sonu | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hazırlık Yıl Sonu | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hazırlık Bütünleme | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Workload | 126 | ||
| Total Workload / 25 | 5.04 | ||
| Credits ECTS | 5 | ||