'The Psychology of Political Behaviour in Turkey: The Affective, Cognitive and Motivational Nature

331 Pages·2017·2.77 MB·English

by  Stavroula Chrona

Title: ‘The Psychology of Political Behaviour in
Turkey: The Affective, Cognitive and
Motivational Nature of Citizens’ Political
Considerations’

by

Stavroula Chrona

Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Politics
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
University of Surrey

Supervisors: Dr. Simon Usherwood (Principal supervisor)
Prof. Roberta Guerrina (Co-supervisor)
Dr. Tereza Capelos (Collaborative supervisor)

©Stavroula Chrona, August 2017
For Cristiano and Vittorio Kimonas,
for life

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I am grateful for the guidance and valuable insights over the years from
my colleagues at the Department of Politics and in particular, Alex Brianson, Ipshita Bassu,
Laura Chappell, Sam Cooke, Maxine David, Tom Dyson, Theofanis Exadaktylos, Chris
Flood, Jack Holland, Mark Olssen, Ciaran Gillespie, Nikos Gkotsis, Roberta Guerrina, Malte
Kaeding, Louise Thompson, John Turner, Katharine Wright, and many others. During my
studies, I was lucky to be supported by many mentors, to whom I extend my gratitude for all
their valuable help and support. I want to thank in particular, Tereza Capelos who was my
first mentor in political psychology and who both consciously and unconsciously taught me
to think outside the box in doing research in political science. The enthusiasm she has for her
research was contagious, even during the difficult times I encountered throughout my studies.
Special thanks goes also to Simon Usherwood, who has always been patient and helpful
reassuring me about my capabilities since the very beginning of my PhD.
In addition, I would like to express my gratitude for the GTA scholarship I was
awarded at the same Department. Working closely with all members of staff and delivering
lectures and seminars on research methods has benefitted my empirical work significantly
and offered me the opportunity to take my first steps as an early career researcher.
The theoretical and methodological foundations of my work are drawn from the field
of political psychology. Being part of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP)
has benefitted me greatly and put me in contact with a number of prominent scholars from the
field. The interaction with them has had a strong impact on my academic and personal
development.
The research presented in my thesis, was conducted in Istanbul and Ankara using a
snowball sampling technique. I would like to thank all my Turkish friends, who helped me
translate the survey and interview questionnaire as well as to express my gratitude for their
patience and meticulous assistance in putting me into contact with the participants in my
studies. Special thanks goes to all who took part in my interviews and the survey. I am
grateful to the research assistant, who helped with the interview transcriptions by doing an
excellent and very detailed job.
I would also like to express my special gratitude to my parents, Charoula and Tasos,
and relatives in Greece as well as to my family in Italy, Austria and Chile for their support
across the years and since I embarked on the PhD. Also, during my PhD pursuit my friends
have always stood by me supporting and encouraging me, even when I confronted important
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difficulties. I would like to thank in particular, Eva, Lina and Stefano for being by my side
across these years.
Last and most important, I would like to thank the two men of my life. My partner,
Cristiano, for always being there, for his eternal patience and continuous help, feedback,
support, encouragement and fondness that he transmitted to me across these years and that
have been a key determinant to finish this PhD. And to our son, Vittorio Kimonas, for
reminding me how beautiful the world is, through the eyes of a baby and now a toddler. His
indirect support and his great patience across the past two years and a half have been a key
motivation and an invaluable source of energy to arrive at the point of submission. This work
is especially dedicated to them.
Istanbul, 4 August 2017

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Declaration

This thesis and the work to which it refers are the results of my own efforts. Any ideas, data,
images or text resulting from the work of others (whether published or unpublished) are fully
identified as such within the work and attributed to their originator in the text, bibliography or
in footnotes. This thesis has not been submitted in whole or in part for any other academic
degree or professional qualification. I agree that the University has the right to submit my
work to the plagiarism detection service TurnitinUK for originality checks. Whether or not
drafts have been so-assessed, the University reserves the right to require an electronic version
of the final document (as submitted) for assessment as above.

Signature:

Date: 4 August 2017

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Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations 8
List of Tables 9
Abstract 11
Chapter 1. Introduction 12
Plan of the Thesis 26
Chapter 2. Historical Background of Turkish Politics 29
2.1 The Conflictual Basis of Kemalism and Political Islam 30
2.2 AK Party: The Liberal Transformation of Political Islam 32
2.3 Ideological and Political Tensions between Kemalism and Political Islam 35
2.4 Concluding Remarks 39
Chapter 3. The Study of Political Behaviour in Turkey 41
3.1 Public Opinion and Political Behaviour Studies in Turkey 42
3.2 The Fragmented and Volatile Stability of the Turkish Political System 43
3.3 Determinants of Political Behaviour: The State of the Art 47
3.4 Methodological Designs in the Study of Political Behaviour 57
3.5 Concluding Remarks 58
Chapter 4. Political Behaviour: A Political Psychology Perspective 60
4.1 The Cognitive Component 61
4.2 The Affective Component 63
4.3 The Motivational Component 66
4.4 Concluding Remarks 68
Chapter 5. Drivers of Political Behaviour 70
5.1 Political Ideology 71
5.2 Value Orientations 74
5.3 Emotions 77
5.4 Political Sophistication 80
5.5 Concluding Remarks 83
Chapter 6. Research Design and Methodology 85
6.1 Methodological Triangulation 85
6.2 Details of Administration and Technical Specifications 92
6.3 Objectives and Research Questions 96
6.4 Variable Operationalization and Measurement 101
6.5 Concluding Remarks 113
Chapter 7. Data Analysis and Findings: Political Ideology 114
7.1.Perceptions and Understandings of Key Political Ideologies 114
7.2 Self-Placement on Ideological Poles 129
7.3 Party Placement on the Kemalism-Political Islam Continuum 137
7.4 Judgments and Evaluations of Key Party Actors 141
7.5 Party Identification and Voting Preferences 152
7.6 Concluding Remarks 158
Chapter 8. Data Analysis and Findings: Value orientations 160
8.1 Core Personal Values 160
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8.2 Political values 190
8.3 Concluding Remarks 218
Chapter 9. Data Analysis and Findings: Emotions 220
9.1 Positive Valence Emotions 220
9.2 Negative Valence Emotions 232
9.3. Concluding Remarks 246
Chapter 10. Conclusion and Discussion 248
Contribution and Further Avenues for Research 256
References 263
APPENDICES 296
Appendix 1. Electoral Results 296
Appendix 2. Map of Political Behaviour Processes 298
Appendix 3. Complimentary Hypotheses on the Basis of Ideological Orientations 299
Appendix 4. Methodological Approach 303
Appendix 5. Results from the WVS Data Analysis 327

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List of Abbreviations
List of Abbreviations

ANES American National Election Studies
AKP Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party)
BDP Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi (Peace and Democracy Party)
CHP Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Republican People's Party)
DSP Demokratik Sol Partisi (Democratic Left Party)
DYP Doğru Yol Partisi (True Path Party)
EU European Union
FETÖ Fethullahçı Terör Örgütü (Fethullah Terror Organization)
FP Fazilet Partisi (Virtue Party)
HDP Halkların Demokratik Partisi (Peoples' Democratic Party)
KCK Koma Civakên Kurdistan (Kurdistan Communities Union)
MHP Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (Nationalist Action Party)
PKK Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê (Kurdistan Workers' Party)
RP Refah Partisi (Welfare Party)
SETA Siyaset, Ekonomi ve Toplum Araştırmaları Vakfı (Foundation for
Political, Economic and Social Research)
TÜSİAD Türk Sanayici ve Isadamlari Dernegi (Turkish Industry and Business
Association)
TÜSES Türkiye Sosyal Ekonomik Siyasal Araştırmalar Vakfı (Social Economic
Political Research Foundation of Turkey)
TKP Türkiye Komünist Partisi (Communist Party of Turkey)
WVS World Values Survey
YÖK Yükseköğretim Kurulu Başkanlığı (Council of Higher Education)

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List of Tables
List of Tables

Table 1.1 National Election Results for the Period between 2002-2015 295
Table 3.1 Hypotheses for the World Values Survey Data Analysis by 298
Sophistication, Kemalism and Islamism
Table 3.2 Hypotheses for the Ankara Survey Data Analysis by 301
Kemalist Nationalism and Islamism
Table 4.1 Research Design: Benefits and Shortcomings by Empirical 302
Study
Table 5.1 Summary of Main and Interaction effects by Kemalism, 326
Islamism and Sophistication (World Values Survey)
Table 7.1 Ideological Self-Placement (World Values Survey) 133
Table 7.2 Average Scores on Political Attitudes of CHP Supporters 134
(Ankara Survey)
Table 7.3 Ideological Self-Placement (Ankara Survey) 135
Table 8.1 Religiosity (World Values Survey) 161
Table 8.2 Religiosity (Ankara Survey) 162
Table 8.3 Attitudes towards Tradition (World Values Survey) 178
Table 8.4 Attitudes towards Modernization (World Values Survey) 182
Table 8.5 Attitudes towards Modernization (Ankara Survey) 183
Table 8.6 Attitudes towards Democracy (World Values Survey) 190
Table 8.7 Essential Characteristics of Democratic Governance (World 193
Values Survey)
Table 8.8 Attitudes towards the State and Governance (World Values 198
Survey)
Table 8.9 Attitudes towards the State, the Government and Political 200
Participation (Ankara Survey)
Table 8.10 Attitudes towards the Nation and World Institutions (World 205
Values Survey)
Table 8.11 Requirements for Citizenship (World Values Survey) 206
Table 8.12 Elements of National Identity (Ankara Survey) 208
Table 9.1 Confidence in Political Institutions (World Values Survey) 221
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List of Tables
Table 9.2 Confidence in Political Institutions (Ankara Survey) 223

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