Mass empowerment in democratic transition: the case of Turkey

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2586148_(Table of contents)

This thesis aims to explore the boundaries of mass agency in facilitating regime transformation from a single-party authoritarian regime. Such single-party variants of authoritarianism are characterized by repressive practices against opposition attempts, silencing of the renegade segments of the population, and power accumulation to a single figure. To this aim of regime survival, most single-party regimes are reluctant to relinquish political power and control, in order to ensure regime stability and longevity. The single-party era witnessed by early Republic Turkey carries the same characteristics of single-party authoritarianism; power accumulation, establishment of control over dimensions of life such as social or economic, and sole responsibility in dictating the trajectory of the regime. Despite the ultimate control of the regime for a prolonged period of 25 years, the regime preemptively democratized in a matter of five years, under the leadership of the authoritarian figures themselves. This study takes a qualitative approach of process-tracing to establish a robust descriptive base of analysis for the investigation of mass empowerment in regime transformation. Tentative conclusions reached by the study suggest that mass agency may be a crucial variable in a wide variety of regime transformations from authoritarian regimes and that resentment may be an essential part of inciting mass agency against the authoritarian regime.