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Party and Youth Organization: The Case of the JDP and the RPP in Turkey
Abstract by Dr. Derya Kömürcü
Coauthors: Fulya Atacan
On Session 269  (The AKP in Turkish Politics)

On Tuesday, November 25 at 1:30 pm

2014 Annual Meeting

Abstract
The main purpose of this paper is to analyze political party as an organization. Forms of identity formation, socialization process, and social networks which are built in the party or owned beforehand are important to analyze political party as an organization. Recent developments of party sociology and organizational theory have encouraged us to consider parties not as “black boxes” but as “open organizations” to provide a more dynamic analysis of internal party structure and of the actual everyday operation of party organizations “on the ground”. In order to achieve this goal the paper will first expand the level of analysis to local youth organization and secondly it suggests to go beyond “formal party organization” to include inner life of the party. Party organizations which constitute the modern democratic political life are mostly studied as part of the balance of power in changing socio-political structure of a given country instead of organization itself. Organizations are set up to achieve specific aims. Modern organization, as Weber stated, are structured in formal rules, hierarchy of offices and regularized duties. However there are always informal, unseen networks or life behind this formal organizational setting. Parties as hierarchical organizations tend to be bureaucratic in nature. Although legal structure of the country impose a similar organizational structure on political parties, each party has its own “inner life” different from its legal aim and organizational structure. The “inner life” of the party contains different forms of conflicts, reconciliation and cooptation process. People don’t randomly become a party member, they choose to participate political parties. In the selection of the political party, embedded networks might be an important channel to reach the party. Once become a party member, new networks which are built in the party, new status which are earned in the party, latent status such as age, gender, social background, and power structure in the party become important in the reproduction of the party. The focus of this paper will be the youth organizations of two main parties (the Justice and Development Party and the Republican People’s Party), which shape the political life in Turkey and represent two different political stands. It is mainly based on qualitative fieldwork conducted in Istanbul and Ankara and depth, semi-structured interviews with parties’ youth and rank-and file in national headquarters. Our purpose is to to explain the socialization process and the role of the party organization in this process.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
Turkey
Sub Area
Turkish Studies