Local Power and Female Political Pathways in Turkey: Cycles of Exclusion See all items with this value

Lucie Drechselová

2020

This book by Lucie Drechselová addresses the issue of the limited presence of women in contemporary Turkish local politics. It examines the intermediary level of politics, specifically the representation of political parties in municipalities, employing a dual approach that distinguishes among different political parties (AKP, CHP, MHP, and the pro-Kurdish HDP & DBP) as well as various cities (Izmir, Trabzon, and Diyarbakır). The study engages in a productive dialogue between the Anglo-American body of literature in political sociology and French research in the domains of mobilization sociology, political elites, and institutional analysis. Throughout the monograph, a gendered perspective permeates the analysis. The research findings are drawn from fieldwork conducted in 2014, 2015, and 2016 in Izmir, Trabzon, and Diyarbakır, involving ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews with two hundred female municipal councilors and women holding positions within political parties. By conceptualizing political parties as diverse entities, the study provides insights into the interactions that occur within party hierarchies. The study also questions the artificial division between the "local" and the "national" by examining the role of women in candidate selection processes. Across the chapters, it becomes evident that women's profiles and political trajectories are intricately tied to the mechanisms through which they gain electoral mandates, influencing how they fulfill their roles as elected representatives. The distinct ethos of each political party tends to favor specific individual and collective strategies over others. In conclusion, the monograph underscores that for a comprehensive understanding of women's local representation, the criteria associated with political parties hold greater explanatory power than local configurations alone.





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Orientalist work

Women in Turkey

Contemporary Turkey

Gender and politics )