The role of local patriotism in local elections

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2748994_(Table of contents)

This thesis examines the effect of “hemsehrilik”, or local ties on political behavior. The research question is whether hemsehrilik has an effect on vote choice. My main argument is that in a formally nonpartisan election, voters are more likely to vote for a candidate with a shared hometown. Also, hometown associations are important actors in the local political socialization process with different functions. Firstly, they provide networks for people at the local level. Secondly, they work as intermediaries between political elites and voters. I am looking at muhtarlık elections to observe whether hemsehrilik has an effect on vote choice, if any, under what conditions. Unlike most studies on local politics in Turkey, I focus on neighborhood level analysis. I use data on the March 2019 Istanbul local elections and my sample includes 233 neighborhoods of Istanbul. I find that group size and group population density are two prominent factors that have an effect on the likelihood of the most populated group in the neighborhood and the mukhtar having a common hometown. I do not find strong evidence in favor of my main hypothesis which emphasizes the role of hometown associations in the local political socialization process. This thesis contributes to the descriptive representation literature by investigating hemsehrilik as a new variable of interest.