1st Edition

Elections and Public Opinion in Turkey Through the Prism of the 2018 Elections

Edited By Ali Çarkoğlu, Ersin Kalaycıoğlu Copyright 2022
    244 Pages 31 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    244 Pages 31 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The volume sheds light on the backsliding process of Turkish democratization from the early 2010's until 2018. In addition to historical contextualization, the book analyzes data collected through a nationally representative survey of Turkish voters during the 2018 elections and data available by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) in a pre-and post-election panel design.

    A more centralized administration of elections that are directly under the control of the central government brought reliability of election results as well as the free and fair nature of the elections in question. Mobilization efforts of the parties, as well as the varying degree of influence of the economy, appear to have simultaneously influential over the vote choices. Yet another factor of potency in shaping the vote choices was the longer-term effects of ideology, conservative values, and hence the party identification.

    Through the 2018 elections in Turkey, the book provides an excellent glimpse into the dynamics of Turkish politics, society and culture. Targeting students and scholars of Middle Eastern and North African politics, the book is a key resource for any readers interested in the political developments of Turkey, comparative politics, and voting behavior.

    1. Introduction

    Ali Çarkoğlu and Ersin Kalaycıoğlu

    2. A New National Legislative Election System? An Assessment of the Breakdown of Consensus on the Administration of Elections

    Ersin Kalaycıoğlu

    3. Politics as (Un)Usual? An Overview of the June 2018 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Turkey

    Mert Moral

    4. The Story of Electoral Alliances

    Mert Moral

    5. A Text-as-Data Study of Political Communication in the 2018 Turkish Elections

    Ali Çarkoğlu and Fatih Erol

    6. Consequences of Popular Perceptions of Electoral Integrity: The Experience of Turkey, 2007-2018

    Ali Çarkoğlu

    7. The Economic Vote in the 2018 Turkish General Election

    Selim Erdem Aytaç

    8. Kulturkampf and Voting Behavior in Turkey: A Key to Turkish Party Politics?

    Ersin Kalaycıoğlu

    9. Voter Mobilization in the 2018 Turkish General Election

    Selim Erdem Aytaç and Özge Kemahlıoğlu

    10. Party Identification and Vote Choice in Turkey

    Ersin Kalaycıoğlu

    11. Public Opinion, and Foreign Affairs in the National Elections of June 24, 2018 in Turkey

    Ersin Kalaycıoğlu

    12. Conclusion

    Ali Çarkoğlu and Ersin Kalaycıoğlu

    Biography

    Ali Çarkoğlu is a professor of political science at Koç University, İstanbul. He received his Ph.D. at the State University of New York-Binghamton in 1994. His areas of research interest include voting behaviour, elections, public opinion and party politics in Turkey. He co-authored/edited 12 volumes and 62 articles, including The Rising Tide of Conservatism in Turkey (2009) and Fragile bur Resilient? Turkish Electoral Dynamics, 2002–2015 (2021) (both co-authored with E. Kalaycıoğlu).

    Ersin Kalaycıoğlu is a Political Scientist at Sabancı University, Istanbul. He specializes in political representation and participation, in which he published internationally. His main publications include Turkish Dynamics (2005), The Rising Tide of Conservatism in Turkey (2009), and Fragile bur Resilient? Turkish Electoral Dynamics, 2002–2015 (2021) (both co-authored with A. Çarkoğlu) as well as 13 other books and 95 articles.