Research Outputs

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14288/2

Browse

Filters

2014 - 201912020 - 20243

Advanced Search

Filter by

Settings

Sponsors: search.filters.sponsors.EUSubject: search.filters.subject.Political science

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Placeholder
    PublicationMetadata only
    Avoiding fallout from terrorist attacks: the role of local politics and governments
    (SAGE Publications Ltd, 2024) Kemahlıoğlu, Özge; Kural, Ece; Department of International Relations; Bayer, Reşat; Erol, Emine Arı; Department of International Relations; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics
    Even though violent attacks resulting in civilian fatalities can be seen as constituting failure on the part of the incumbent party to provide security to citizens, governments are not always punished electorally. Rather, at times, they appear to gain votes following terrorist attacks. Here we argue that political parties that can take advantage of their local presence to frame and communicate their narrative in response to terrorism, can better manage to avoid blame and even to emerge victorious in times of violent conflict. The AKP in Turkey is one such important example. Our statistical analyses of municipality-level aggregate election results show that the party not only maintained national incumbency, but even strengthened its predominance in the political system in the face of growing security threats. In municipalities where AKP controlled the local government and hence municipal resources, the party did not lose votes following terrorist attacks. This finding remains even when we consider past voting, regional variations, competitive districts, and ethnicity. Our argument that incumbents can avoid punishment through their capacity to reach out to voters at the local level is also supported by individual-level survey data and the comparison with neighboring municipalities. As such, we highlight how local government control can be consequential for national politics, including periods when security dominates the national agenda.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    Contentious welfare: the Kurdish conflict and social policy as counterinsurgency in Turkey
    (Wiley, 2020) Department of Sociology; Yörük, Erdem; Yoltar, Çağrı; Faculty Member; Researcher; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 28982; N/A
    The period since the 1990s has witnessed the expanding political influence of the Kurdish movement across the country as well as a transformation in the welfare system, manifesting itself mainly in the emergence of extensive social assistance programs. While Turkish social assistance policy has been formally neutral regarding who is entitled to state aid, Kurds have been de facto singled out by these new welfare programs, as is shown by existing quantitative work. Based on a discourse analysis of legislation, parliamentary proceedings, and news media, this article examines the ways in which Turkish governments and policymakers consider the Kurdish question in designing welfare policies. We illustrate that Kurdish mobilization has become a central theme that informed the transformation of Turkish welfare system over the past three decades.
  • Placeholder
    PublicationMetadata only
    Democracy and vulnerability: an exploitation theory of democracies by terrorists
    (Sage, 2014) Department of International Relations; Akça, Belgin San; Faculty Member; Department of International Relations; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics; 107754
    The research on the influence of democracy on terrorism renders support for two causal mechanisms. One is that democracy reduces terrorism because it creates an environment in which dissenters can pursue their interests through peaceful means. The other argument states that democracy encourages terrorism due to the intrinsic liberties and freedoms that provide an opportunity for terrorists to easily organize, recruit, and mount operations. This article contributes to this second line of thought by framing support for rebel groups as one of the contexts in which democracy's influence on terrorism is examined. I identify a theoretical mechanism about how democratic states unknowingly facilitate terrorism by letting terrorists freely stay within their borders, raise funds, smuggle arms, and operate offices. The empirical findings provide support for the hypothesis that democracies are vulnerable and can easily be exploited by terrorists since they have an environment conducive to terrorist activities.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    The politics of social assistance in South Africa: how protests and electoral politics shape the Child Support Grant
    (Wiley, 2021) Gençer, Alper Şükrü; Department of Sociology; Yörük, Erdem; Faculty Member; Department of Sociology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 28982
    Since the 1990s, South Africa, like many other countries from the Global South, has provided extensive social assistance for the poor. The literature on these policies, however, is largely dominated by structuralist accounts, and it largely overlooks political factors. We conducted quantitative analyses regarding the South African flagship Child Support Grant (CSG) program and investigated how contentious and electoral political dynamics jointly shape the provision of this program. Based on a logistic regression analysis, we measured the effect of protest participation, voting preference, and their interaction on the likelihood of CSG receipt. Our analysis showed that CSG receipt is much higher among "uncontentious supporters" of ANC and "contentious nonsupporters," as well as those who join violent protests. This lends support for our argument that CSG is being used as a tool for electoral politics and containment of unrest, providing fresh evidence for political mediation theories of social policy.