 | Elections and Public Opinion in Turkey: Through the Prism of the 2018 Elections Subjects: Area Studies; Politics & International Relations; Middle East Studies; Government; International Politics; Political Philosophy; Middle East Politics; Elections; Political Leaders; Political Parties; Protest Movements; Middle East Politics; Democracy; 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. 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. |
