Ballots with Bullets: Elections, Violence, and the Rise of Extreme Right in Turkey

• In Event: 330 - Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology Paper Session. Comparative-Historical Perspectives on Nationalism and Ideology

Abstract

Dominant literature on social movements and extreme right politics assumes that participation in electoral politics is incompatible with utilization of political violence. In doing so, they cannot explain the recent rise of political movements and parties that utilize political violence and electoral politics in various countries, such as the BJP in India, the Golden Dawn in Greece and the MHP in Turkey. This paper challenges this elections-violence dualism by presenting the negative case of the extreme right in Turkey, led by the MHP (Nationalist Action Party) in the post-1980 period. The paper utilizes mixed methods using original quantitative data on extreme right violence in Turkey compiled from historical newspaper archives and in-depth interviews conducted by the author. Using negative binomial and quantile regression analyses, the paper shows that electoral popularization and political violence have reinforced each other controlling for alternative explanations. Qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews documents how the movement was able to escape marginalization and state repression due the opportunity structure provided by the Kurdish conflict; as well as movement’s strategic utilization and framing of its violent actions. These findings also suggest that the MHP's strategy of using violence and elections differs from the BJP in India which uses violence to promote its electoral fortunes; and Golden Dawn in Greece which utilizes the opportunities provided by acute political and economic crisis.

Author

• Sefika Kumral, Johns Hopkins University