Yunus Emre
Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies
DOI: 10.1080/19448953.2015.1063298
Published online: 04 Aug 2015
This paper scrutinizes why the Western European type of social democracy
has not developed in Turkey. Both the historical backdrop and current
constraints on the development of social democracy are examined. This
paper argues that social democracy's failure in Turkey has stemmed from
two reasons. On the one hand, historical and structural constraints that
obstructed social democracy should be taken into account. On the other,
social democratic movements suffered from an agency question. The
leadership of the political parties, which defined themselves as
centre-left entities, had a number of chances to build a ‘genuine social
democracy’, but they chose alternative policy paths based on identity
politics. This phenomenon too prevented the development of social
democracy. The CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, Republican People's Party)
is the focal point of the paper since it has always been the main
subject in the debates over social democracy in Turkey.
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