Electoral Competition and Political Violence: Comparative Analysis of Extreme Right in India and Turkey

• In Event: 594 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 14. Political Violence

Abstract

Democracy has long been considered as a solution to internal conflicts, as well as a sine qua non for international peace. This is mainly based on the premise that democratic regimes provide non-violent means of claim making, protest, which would result in peaceful management of social conflicts. Focusing on the politics of extreme right in two major non-Western democracies, India and Turkey, this paper challenges the dualism between democratic competition and political violence in democratic regimes and investigates the ways in which electoral competition and violent politics are embedded. In doing so, this paper aims to (1) show how the BJP in India and MHP in Turkey can be juxtaposed with the European extreme right parties in terms of their incorporation of electoral and violent politics as separate yet relational strategies in gaining popular support; and (2) underline the two-way relationship between these strategies whereby political violence may promote electoral success and/or electoral popularization may contribute to the success of violent mobilization by the extreme right. I will discuss the first pattern (Violence->Elections) in reference to the BJP; and the second pattern (Elections->Violence) in relation to the MHP.

Author

• Sefika Kumral, Johns Hopkins University