Browsing by Author "Türkoğlu, Didem"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Citation Count: 0
Offside politics during the democratic erosion: social movements and May 2023 presidential election cycle in Turkey
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2024) Türkoğlu, Didem; Turkoglu, Didem; Akin, Afife Idil; Akın, Afife İdil
In this article, we demonstrate how social movements try to adjust to closing political opportunities during democratic erosion with a case study of the 2023 electoral cycle in Turkey. Using the framework of Doug McAdam and Sidney Tarrow's analysis of the reciprocal relationship between social movements and elections, we conclude that many previously influential movements found themselves offside as the political field and the rules of the game changed. The peculiarities of this case provide insights to social movement scholars to study changing structural factors in countries that experience democratic backsliding to various degrees. While anti-incumbent movements and parties react to democratic erosion/try to prevent it by becoming more active, the right-wing movements might strengthen these regimes through alliances.
Citation Count: 1
Political polarisation on social media: Competing understandings of democracy in Turkey
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2022) Türkoğlu, Didem; Odabas, Meltem; Tunaoglu, Doruk; Yavas, Mustafa
Heightened political polarisation threatens democratic stability. While prior studies find polarisation in competing groups' deployment of different terminologies to describe the same topic, we emphasise that it can also be evident in groups' attachment of different meanings to the same terminology. Competition for dominance in the public sphere is reflected in social media which become sites of contestation, showcasing antagonistic claims of legitimacy. In a case-study of the June 2019 rerun Istanbul elections in Turkey, we used qualitative and computational methods to analyse approximately 116,000 tweets, focusing on discussions around the themes of 'democracy', 'elections', and 'public service'. Twitter users associated the act of casting a vote not only with electing the candidate, but also with a competition over the future of Turkish democracy.