Authoritarian Party Structures And Democratic Political Setting In Turkey

Political culture and institutions may cause the development of authoritarian party organizations. Yet, what constitutes their structure and what explains their changing patterns across time and space? Conducting a comparative case study among four parties in the Turkish political system and utilizing the principal-agent approach to party governance, this study shows how the variance in interest configurations and the power resources of local party activists constitute these changing patterns.

Musil argues that exit from intra-party authoritarianism is always a possibility not only because the party leaders choose to do so, but because the local party activists can challenge the existing structures by cultivating their own power resources. Review: This well-crafted book makes a major contribution to the literature on the internal life of political parties.

Authoritarian Party Structures and Democratic Political Setting in Turke y challenges some of the widely-held views about the issue of internal party democracy through meticulous empirical research on the relations between party executives and local party organizations. The author convincingly demonstrates that the nature of the principal-agent relationship should be understood as a dynamic, rather than a static, process and that it can vary depending on the material and social interests of the national party leaders and local party actors.

Pelin Ayan-Musil's book deserves a wide audience: It will be a valuable reference to those interested in the comparative study of political parties, in democracy, and Turkish politics. - Sabri Sayari, Professor of Political Science, Sabanci University