The changing role of the military in Turkish politics: democratization through coup plots?

Everywhere Taksim: Sowing the Seeds for a New Turkey at Gezi

“…According to a number of studies, many Turks perceived the political role of the military as a counterbalance to the frequent chaos and crises produced by civilian governments. Moreover, both qualitative and quantitative research on political attitudes in Turkey has shown that a stable trust in the military and support for democracy are not necessarily mutually exclusive (Gürsoy 2012). The surveys, which show that positive attitudes toward democratic processes and the military rule are held by the same large numbers of Turkish constituencies, may be indicators of the public discontent with the coalition governments that were in power throughout the 1990s, and whose period in office culminated, in February 2001, in Turkey's worst economic crisis in its modern history.…”

Quel avenir pour Istanbul en tant que centre financier international ?

“…The economic growth however recovered with a spectacular rate of 9 % in 2010 and 2011 but slowed down to less than 3 % in 2013 on the back of measures to control the overheating economy and reduce the ballooning current account deficit. 4 In the meantime, the AKP government in cooperation with its allies in the Turkish bureaucracy, judiciary and media started a major crackdown on a large number of figures from the military, media, civil society and business allegedly conspiring to overthrow the AKP government since 2002 (Gumuscu and Sert 2010;Gursoy 2012). The court cases brought against these figures and the constitutional and judiciary reforms were mostly positively welcomed among the liberal Turkish circles and in the West as a sign of further normalization in a post--military tutelage era in Turkey.…”

Military loyalty and the failure of democratization in Africa: how ethnic armies shape the capacity of presidents to defy term limits

“…2 Additionally, Miller argues that irregular transfers of power, mostly constituted by coups, lead to democratization when unseating economically developed autocracies, while Marinov and Goemans find that coups lead to democratization conditional on high levels of western aid. 8 Gürsoy argues that even failed coup plots can facilitate democratization where their aftermaths encourage soldiers to accept civilian rule. 9 Others, however, have argued that coups undermine democracy.…”