Populism and Polarization in Contemporary Türkiye

Türkiye has recently been cited as a typical example of democratic backsliding and competitive authoritarianism. This panel aims to examine these challenges to Turkish democracy, with a particular focus on populism and polarization. In recent years, political actors and voters in Turkey have become critically polarized, posing risks to democratic stability and even democratic survival, while Manichean rhetoric and behaviors have spread throughout the political landscape. This panel will explore the rise in populism and polarization in Türkiye, considering both the supply and demand sides of these phenomena by exploring their relationships with party politics, religion, emotions, voting behavior, gender, and foreign policy. The panel comprises five papers. The first paper uses process tracing to examine how the 2017 shift in the governmental system in Türkiye fostered a two-block, zero-sum electoral environment that intensified polarizing and populist political strategies. The second paper analyzes survey data to explore the link between affective polarization and populism, arguing that populist attitudes significantly heighten affective polarization. The third paper employs experimental methods to study whether individuals with varying levels of religiosity react differently to populist framing. The fourth paper examines the relationship between populism and gender roles, focusing on how masculine language and style contribute to populist appeals. Lastly, the fifth paper investigates how populism and the instrumentalization of migrants and refugees play a role in Turkish foreign policy. Overall, this panel delves into various facets of populism and polarization in Türkiye, using multiple levels of analysis and methodologies, offering valuable insights for comparable cases globally.