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    Pseudo-Democratic Politics and Populist Possibilities: The Rise and Demise of the Refah Party in Turkey

    Creator
    Kamrava, Mehran
    Abstract
    Within the span of only a few years, Turkish politics witnessed the dramatic rise and fall of the Refah Party. This transformation from relative obscurity to the head of a ruling coalition and eventual banning was caused by a combination of features inherent in the Turkish political system and the party itself. Turkish democracy features the continued interference of the military in domestic political affairs on the one hand and a preponderance of largely centrist and bland "mainstream" parties on the other. Nevertheless, the existence of ostensibly democratic institutions such as elections or a parliament enable potential political aspirants who are outside the mainstream to make bids for power through officially sanctioned channels. The Refah's rise was a product of the perceived uniqueness of its ideological platform and its unparalleled focus on grass roots voter mobilization. Its fall, however, came when the military considered it to have overstepped the bounds of acceptable political behaviour within the country's narrowly defined democracy.
    Permanent Link
    http://hdl.handle.net/10822/711170
    External Link
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13530199808705669
    Date Published
    1998
    Rights
    This item is currently unavailable in DigitalGeorgetown due to copyright restrictions by the publisher.
    Subject
    Political parties; Democracy; Voting; Refah Partisi (Turkey); Turkey--Politics and government--1980-;
    Type
    Article
    Is Part Of
    British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 25(2).
    Publisher
    Routledge
    Collections
    • Qatar Faculty Scholarship
    Metadata
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      Non-Democratic States and Political Liberalization in the Middle East: A Structural Analysis 

      Kamrava, Mehran (Taylor & Francis, 1998)
      Despite significant historical and structural differences that separate them, Middle Eastern states have almost uniformly been able to withstand popular pressures for political liberalisation. In each case, the non-democratic ...
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    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2009 - 2023 Georgetown University Library
    37th & O Streets NW
    Washington DC 20057-1174
    202.687.7385
    digitalscholarship@georgetown.edu
    Accessibility