Disunited Elites and Unconsolidated Democracy in Turkey

Despite half a century of multiparty politics, Turkey has showed a continuing elusiveness of democratic consolidation. This study argues that the failure of elite transformations and the absence of elite unity is the most determining explanatory variable to understand the unconsolidated democracy in Turkey. Some works correctly point out the importance of an elite settlement and convergence in the democratic transitions and breakdowns in Turkey instead of a hazy concept of low political institutionalization. Yet, this study still finds their seemingly elaborated elite-centered analysis wanting since they fail to provide crucial and comprehensive notions of elite theory in which democratization can best be understood by studying basic continuities and changes in the internal relations of national elites. Following the lead of Higley and Burton, this paper here intends to offer a more adequate explanation of the elite variable in the unstable regimes of Turkey and to contend that the elusiveness of consolidation is due to continuing elite disunity. The rationale is that unless regime changes are preceded or accompanied by elite transformations from disunity to consensual unity, they should be regarded as strictly temporary. Considering that elite transformations are highly contingent and procedural affairs, this study focuses on specific circumstances that have failed to trigger an elite settlement or convergence at several points of crisis in Turkey compared to the other successful cases.