Gendered Strategies between Democratization and Democratic Reversal: The Curious Case of Turkey

The processes of democratization or democratic reversal have serious implications for gender equality regimes. Although the gender and transition literature has extensively examined the relation between democratization and gender, it only recently began to question how the changing dynamics of democ...

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Main Author: Hürcan Asli Aksoy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cogitatio 2018-09-01
Series:Politics and Governance
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1423
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author Hürcan Asli Aksoy
author_facet Hürcan Asli Aksoy
author_sort Hürcan Asli Aksoy
collection DOAJ
description The processes of democratization or democratic reversal have serious implications for gender equality regimes. Although the gender and transition literature has extensively examined the relation between democratization and gender, it only recently began to question how the changing dynamics of democratic reversal influence gender politics and policies. While women’s participation and representation in the formal arena of politics has been the primary object of theoretical discussions, the research rediscovers the power of the informal arena. To find tentative answers to the newly developing research agenda, this article employs the case of Turkey. To this end, the article examines the gendered strategies of four groups of organized women (feminist, Kurdish, Islamist, and Kemalist women’s organizations) engaged in strengthening women’s rights and gender equality. It first questions how, and to what extent, organized women engendered democratization process and then sheds lights on the shift in their strategies to respond to the increasingly authoritarian and conservative Islamist political agenda of the ruling Justice and Development Party. Drawing on empirical findings, the article aims to inform the theoretical debates on the analytical relation between democratic reversals and gender rights regimes.
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spelling doaj.art-92da628b3aa346ab9c483589ef65de832022-12-22T02:08:07ZengCogitatioPolitics and Governance2183-24632018-09-016310111110.17645/pag.v6i3.1423815Gendered Strategies between Democratization and Democratic Reversal: The Curious Case of TurkeyHürcan Asli Aksoy0Institute for Political Science, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, GermanyThe processes of democratization or democratic reversal have serious implications for gender equality regimes. Although the gender and transition literature has extensively examined the relation between democratization and gender, it only recently began to question how the changing dynamics of democratic reversal influence gender politics and policies. While women’s participation and representation in the formal arena of politics has been the primary object of theoretical discussions, the research rediscovers the power of the informal arena. To find tentative answers to the newly developing research agenda, this article employs the case of Turkey. To this end, the article examines the gendered strategies of four groups of organized women (feminist, Kurdish, Islamist, and Kemalist women’s organizations) engaged in strengthening women’s rights and gender equality. It first questions how, and to what extent, organized women engendered democratization process and then sheds lights on the shift in their strategies to respond to the increasingly authoritarian and conservative Islamist political agenda of the ruling Justice and Development Party. Drawing on empirical findings, the article aims to inform the theoretical debates on the analytical relation between democratic reversals and gender rights regimes.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1423democratic reversaldemocratizationgender politicsJustice and Development Partyorganized womenTurkey
spellingShingle Hürcan Asli Aksoy
Gendered Strategies between Democratization and Democratic Reversal: The Curious Case of Turkey
Politics and Governance
democratic reversal
democratization
gender politics
Justice and Development Party
organized women
Turkey
title Gendered Strategies between Democratization and Democratic Reversal: The Curious Case of Turkey
title_full Gendered Strategies between Democratization and Democratic Reversal: The Curious Case of Turkey
title_fullStr Gendered Strategies between Democratization and Democratic Reversal: The Curious Case of Turkey
title_full_unstemmed Gendered Strategies between Democratization and Democratic Reversal: The Curious Case of Turkey
title_short Gendered Strategies between Democratization and Democratic Reversal: The Curious Case of Turkey
title_sort gendered strategies between democratization and democratic reversal the curious case of turkey
topic democratic reversal
democratization
gender politics
Justice and Development Party
organized women
Turkey
url https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1423
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