Political party-closing as self-defence of democracies? recent debates and criticisms of militant model of democratic self-defence

2022-9
Baran, Servan
In liberal democracies, which can be defined as a particular form of representation regime, the fact that political parties as legitimate channels of this representation can be dissolved creates a fundamental contradiction. The defense mechanisms developed by liberal democracies to address this contradiction are discussed under the title of different models of democratic self-defense. In this study, we intend to present an intra-critical examination of these three models of democratic self-defense, identified in the literature as militant democratic self-defense, procedural democratic self-defense, and social democratic self-defense. With this exposition, we will try to show that the dominant position of militant democracy, which appears as the fundamental legitimizing mindset in the dissolution of political parties, is obviously open to criticism. In other words, we will try to show that militant democracy which tends to discuss the closure of political parties on a purely constitutional level and reinforces official rationality, is not the only stance that can be taken regarding the practice of dissolution of political parties. We hope that presenting the promises of alternative mentalities that tend to approach the practice of party-banning from a political and sociological perspective will contribute to the enrichment of the debates on the related issue, especially in a country like Turkey, which has a high tendency to regard the closure of political parties from a purely militant perspective.

Suggestions

Interest representation in local politic : the case of municipal councils
Ataman, Ş. Emek; Şengül, Hüseyin Tarık; Department of Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments (2004)
It is widely argued that in liberal democracies, demands and interests of different social groups are defended by their representatives in the decision making bodies. The municipal councils can be seen one such channel at the local level. The aim of this thesis is to explore the municipal councils with reference to their power, representation channels, and the weight of different groups in it. The profiles of the local councilors in reference to their education, ethnicity, sex, and class properties are inve...
Creating democratic citizens: what people understand from democracy and how this understanding influences their political participation
Bülbül, Asya; Çınar, Süleyman Kürşat; Department of Political Science and Public Administration (2020)
The aim of this thesis is to examine the influence of different conceptualizations of democracy by ordinary citizens on their political participation. In this thesis, it is argued that an important variable has been neglected in the political participation literature, namely, the conceptual definitions people offer when they are asked to define what democracy is. To test this hypothesis, the definitions of democracy by people are divided into three categories: redistributive understanding, authoritative und...
Focus groups and assemblies in Ankara City Council in the scope of deliberative democracy
Mermer, Elif Meltem; Üstüner, Fahriye; Department of Political Science and Public Administration (2023-2)
Deliberative democracy is one of the new democracy theories put forward as a remedy to the representation crisis in traditional representative democracies. Political decisions are ideally taken by consensus, justified by a culture of discussion in accordance with the discourse ethics within this theory. Mini-publics are also one of the ways in which deliberative democracy is practiced. In this study, the focus group and the assembly meetings of the Ankara City Council were examined within the framewor...
An assessment of political fair representation in Ankara metropolitan municipal council
Memiş, Can Emre; Yavuz, Nilay; Department of Political Science and Public Administration (2020-10)
In representative democracies, representation in the councils formed as a result of elections is one of the indispensible elements. In municipal councils, which are the closest administrative units to the public, different opinions should be represented in parallel with the election results as much as possible. Therefore, political fair representation is an important issue in representation. This thesis examines the degree of political fair representation in Ankara Metropolitan Municipal Council by an...
Democracy in the discourse of Justice and Development Party
Güneş, Aysun; Yıldırım, Erdoğan; Department of Sociology (2014)
The aim of this thesis is to understand the democracy in the discourse of Justice and Development Party (JDP). This is done by examining the discourse of democracy within the frame of JDP‟s conservative democratic identity. JDP makes a separation as old and the new Turkey and claims that JDP government represents the new Turkey. Therefore, this thesis tries to explain which elements the discourse of democracy includes and excludes on the basis of the separation between old and the new Turkey.
Citation Formats
S. Baran, “Political party-closing as self-defence of democracies? recent debates and criticisms of militant model of democratic self-defence,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2022.