DYNAMICS OF ISLAMIST PARTY MODERATION: THE CASE OF TURKEY

The present dissertation takes issue with the ideological moderation of Islamist political parties, and tries to develop an explanatory model regarding the domestic conditions of such party ideological repositioning by drawing on the empirical evidence coming from the Islamist parties in Turkey. The research design consists of a longitudinal comparative study of six Islamist political parties that appeared on the Turkish political scene, and covers a time period of approximately three decades (1970-2001). The comparison, which is conducted using both historical comparative and statistical methods, aims at assessing the contribution of three distinct, yet interrelated factors to the ideological moderation of the Turkish Islamist movement in the late 1990s, which culminated into the birth of the Justice and Development Party. These factors are the socio-economic transformation of the Islamist constituency, the repressive policies of the Turkish state vis-à-vis Islamist political actors, and the exposure of these actors to moderating influences emanating from democratic institutions and practices. Through an in-depth examination of the ideological evolution of the Islamist parties in the above-mentioned period, a number of intervening variables that mediated between these factors and the outcome of ideological moderation are identified including the antagonistic relations between the secular state and Islamist businesses, the changing role of Islam in the official ideology of the Turkish state and the shifts in the distribution of power inside Islamist parties as they are manifested in changes in leadership and the dominant faction.