Authoritarian Party Structures and Democratic Political Setting in Turkey [Hardcover]

Conducting a comparative case study among four parties in the Turkish political system, this study shows how the variance in interest configurations and the power resources of local party activists constitute these changing patterns.Existing Explanations on Intra-Party Authoritarianism Intra-Party Authoritarianism in Turkey A Principal-Agent Approach to Intra-Party Authoritarianism Understanding the Variance in Intra-Party Authoritarianism Intra-Party Authoritarianism in Turkey: Empirical Findings Explaining the Variance in Intra-Party Authoritarianism in Turkey Conclusions, Implications, Future Studies Appendix A: List of Open-ended Interview Questions Appendix B: Outline of the Interviews

This well-crafted book makes a major contribution to the literature on the internal life of political parties. Authoritarian Party Structures and Democratic Political Setting in Turke y challenges some of the widely-held views about the issue of internal party democracy through meticulous empirical research on the relations between party executives and local party organizations. The author convincingly demonstrates that the nature of the principal-agent relationship should be understood as a dynamic, rather than a static, process and that it can vary depending on the material and social interests of the national party leaders and local party actors. Pelin Ayan-Musil s book deserves a wide audience: It will be a valuable reference to those interested in the comparative study of political parties, in democracy, and Turkish politics. - Sabri Sayari, Professor of Political Science, Sabanci University

PELIN AYAN MUSILFaculty member at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Anglo-American University in Prague, Czech Republic.