Meral Ugur-Cinar
Biographic Data
| ID | 272800 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Meral Ugur-Cinar |
| GIVEN NAMES | Meral |
| FAMILY NAME | Ugur-Cinar |
| SIGNATURE | UGUR-CINAR M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Bilkent University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2195-4861 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 90 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
In light of the past: Collective memory and gender-focused civil society organizations in Turkey
Removal Notice: What can the Gezi protests on their 10th anniversary tell us about the dialogicality of memory
In this article, we examine the implications of the dialogicality of collective memory through our analysis of the Gezi protests on their 10th anniversary. Through interviews and surveys with members of a wide range of civil society organizations, we tap into the different aspects of the dialogicality of collective memory that have thus far not been examined by the existing scholarship. We aim to shed light on the implications of dialogicality fo…
Genocide is a feminist issue: Introduction to Special Issue
Patriarchy and political regimes: The Role of Patriarchal Narratives in Neopatrimonialism, Populism, and the Rise of the Far Right
Introduction: Narratives and Politics
This chapter introduces the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological framework of the book. It discusses the main contributions of the book and introduces the remaining chapters of the book.
Party change and cleavage shifting in the global South: The case of Ecevit’s CHP in Turkey
This article explores the prospects of and limits to political party change through a case study of the Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) under the leadership of Bülent Ecevit in the 1960s and 1970s. We demonstrate how the CHP, via a new generation of politicians led by Ecevit, gradually transformed its ideological programme and cadres in an effort to turn into a social democratic mass party, thereby maximizing its voter ba…
Constitutive representation of womanhood: An examination of legitimation strategies used by Turkish female deputies during the headscarf debate
This article analyzes the speeches of Turkish female parliamentarians during the headscarf debate. We examine how deputies with different political and ideological predilections discursively construct women’s rights and employ legitimation strategies to validate their policy position. The findings reveal that on the one hand, the female deputies use different legitimation strategies to justify arguments for or against the use of headscarves in th…
Women and the economic field: Cooperatives and capital in Turkey
This article aims to analytically dissect the interrelated reasons behind the gender gap in wealth accumulation. To do so, it examines how the accumulation of different forms of capital by women in the course of their lives affects women’s prospects in the economic field, thereby shaping women’s potential for wealth accumulation. Focusing on women’s cooperatives in Turkey through a Bourdieusian lens, the article shows that the patriarchal roles a…
Memory, Patriarchy and Economy in Turkey: Narratives of Political Power
What Leads to Voting Despite Intention to Abstain: Emotions, Turnout, and Negative Campaigns in Turkish Elections
This article sheds light on the factors that pave the way from voter abstention to voter turnout based on extensive research of tweets on national and local elections in Turkey. We find that the negative campaign strategy of the incumbent and the fact that the campaigning process has taken place on a very uneven playing field have triggered a set of emotions, primarily moral outrage and anger among the electorate, which have the power to change v…
Elections and Democracy in Turkey: Reconsidering Competitive Authoritarianism in the Age of Democratic Backsliding
This article reflects on the reasons why Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) could still win in the recent 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey despite, among other daunting issues, the deep economic crisis and their unsuccessful handling of the February 2023 earthquake. The article discusses the role of state apparatus and the media under a neopatrimonial system, as well as the role of the EU, which turned Turk…
Social Democracy in Turkey: Global Questions, Local Answers
This article assesses the prospects of social democracy in Turkey in light of two prominent debates regarding social democracy: the challenge of populism and the proper balance between a politics of redistribution and a politics of recognition. By focusing on the Republican People’s Party (CHP), it shows that the main problem the party faces is to find ways of addressing the issues of recognition and redistribution. Success in addressing these is…
Making Sense of Senseless Times: Religious Narratives and Identity in the Memoirs of Far-right Militants in Turkey
This article traces the autobiographical narratives of the far-right Ülkücü militants in Turkey, based on memoirs written in the aftermath of the 1980 coup. The Ülkücüs, who had fought on the streets against the leftist during the 1970s in the name of the state and nation, experienced a great rupture in their lives following their torturous treatment at the hands of the junta. This article examines the ways in which narratives functioned in their…
Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP): A Longue Durée Analysis
This article employs regressive and spatial analyses to understand the correlates of the CHP’s electoral support from the first competitive elections in 1950 to the present. We find that despite some continuities in its constituency, the CHP’s voter base has changed significantly with regards to key political and social dynamics such as the Kurdish vote, effective number of parties, and urbanization. The findings give credence to the role of poli…
The political economy of women's cooperatives in Turkey: A social reproduction perspective
The article analyzes the viability of women's participation in women's cooperatives in Turkey. The prospects are evaluated by focusing on the sustainability of the cooperatives' economic activities as well as the recruitment and continued participation of individual women members. Taking a feminist social reproduction perspective, the article seeks to understand the underlying dynamics of women's participation in cooperatives, as this perspective…
Collective memory and the populist cause: The Ulucanlar Prison Museum in Turkey
This article focuses on how political actors appropriate the past by utilizing collective traumas for their populist cause. We demonstrate how the Ulucanlar Prison Museum in Turkey and the oppression of military interventions, for which it served as a backyard, became a tool for the AKP’s (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi-Justice and Development Party) populist agenda. Through a particular narration of history embedded in the museum, the AKP aimed to f…
How Does Education Affect Political Trust: An Analysis of Moderating Factors
Faces and Phases of Women’s Empowerment: The Case of Women’s Cooperatives in Turkey
This article provides an in-depth look at women’s empowerment through women’s cooperatives. Drawing on evidence from a diverse set of women’s cooperatives in Turkey, the article investigates the prospects and constraints of women’s empowerment in contexts lacking an enabling macro-institutional framework and societal structure. Listening to the real-life stories of women from different socioeconomic and political backgrounds, we explore how and t…
Deliberating in difficult times: Lessons from public forums in Turkey in the aftermath of the Gezi protests
This study examines the prospects of public deliberation in a semi-authoritarian political context and unfavourable political cultural setting through an in-depth analysis of three public forums taking place in the aftermath of the 2013 Gezi Protests. This analysis shows that while the gains of deliberation in terms of influencing policy decision-making are limited, significant gains can still be reached in terms of creating a more civic public a…
What the City Has to Offer: Urbanization and Women's Empowerment in Turkey
This article examines the relationship between urbanization and women's empowerment through the Turkish case. The article first tests statistically the overall impact of urbanization on women's empowerment by tapping into educational, economic, and political indicators at the province level. The results yield a positive relationship between urbanization and women's empowerment. We argue that these empowerment indicators demonstrate the necessary …
The effects of executive constraints on political trust
This article explores political trust, delving into its subcomponents and the relationship between them. It is interested in explaining why governmental trust and trust in regulative state institutions are similar in some countries and different in others. It argues that the variation can best be explained by checks on the executive. This is the case because the more restricted the executive, the less regulative state institutions are affected by…
Embedded Neopatrimonialism: Patriarchy and Democracy in Turkey
This article argues that patriarchal discourses can play a legitimizing role for the undemocratic elements of regimes. It focuses on neopatrimonial regimes in contemporary politics, which create impediments to democracy. Showing neopatrimonialism’s link to patriarchal discourses, the study highlights the need to situate neopatrimonialism beyond its dominant contemporary usage as material exchange between the ruler and the ruled for political supp…
Collective Memory and National Membership: Identity and Citizenship Models in Turkey and Austria
This study seeks to explain the impact of historical narratives on the inclusiveness and pluralism of citizenship models. Drawing on comparative historical analysis of two post-imperial core countries
Building Democracy to Last: The Turkish Experience in Comparative Perspective
This study analyses the relationship between checks and balances and democracy, focusing on Turkey in comparative perspective. In a large-N setting, the effects of checks and balances on the quality of democracy are examined. The findings reinforce the essential relationship between democracy and checks and balances. The article then discusses the implications of the the findings for Turkey. It stresses the need for horizontal accountability via …
Letter from Ankara
This article focuses on the relationship between discourses of economic development and prospects for democracy in Turkey. It does so by tracing the political discourse of high‐ranking government officials and journalists close to them to show how they use arguments for economic development as a tool to politically legitimise interventions into liberal democracy. I first illustrate the dangers caused by the discourse surrounding economic developm…
Elections and Democracy in Turkey: Reconsidering Competitive Authoritarianism in the Age of Democratic Backsliding
This article reflects on the reasons why Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) could still win in the recent 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey despite, among other daunting issues, the deep economic crisis and their unsuccessful handling of the February 2023 earthquake. The article discusses the role of state apparatus and the media under a neopatrimonial system, as well as the role of the EU, which turned Turk…
How Does Education Affect Political Trust: An Analysis of Moderating Factors
Embedded Neopatrimonialism: Patriarchy and Democracy in Turkey
This article argues that patriarchal discourses can play a legitimizing role for the undemocratic elements of regimes. It focuses on neopatrimonial regimes in contemporary politics, which create impediments to democracy. Showing neopatrimonialism’s link to patriarchal discourses, the study highlights the need to situate neopatrimonialism beyond its dominant contemporary usage as material exchange between the ruler and the ruled for political supp…
What the City Has to Offer: Urbanization and Women's Empowerment in Turkey
This article examines the relationship between urbanization and women's empowerment through the Turkish case. The article first tests statistically the overall impact of urbanization on women's empowerment by tapping into educational, economic, and political indicators at the province level. The results yield a positive relationship between urbanization and women's empowerment. We argue that these empowerment indicators demonstrate the necessary …
Collective memory and the populist cause: The Ulucanlar Prison Museum in Turkey
This article focuses on how political actors appropriate the past by utilizing collective traumas for their populist cause. We demonstrate how the Ulucanlar Prison Museum in Turkey and the oppression of military interventions, for which it served as a backyard, became a tool for the AKP’s (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi-Justice and Development Party) populist agenda. Through a particular narration of history embedded in the museum, the AKP aimed to f…
The effects of executive constraints on political trust
This article explores political trust, delving into its subcomponents and the relationship between them. It is interested in explaining why governmental trust and trust in regulative state institutions are similar in some countries and different in others. It argues that the variation can best be explained by checks on the executive. This is the case because the more restricted the executive, the less regulative state institutions are affected by…
The political economy of women's cooperatives in Turkey: A social reproduction perspective
The article analyzes the viability of women's participation in women's cooperatives in Turkey. The prospects are evaluated by focusing on the sustainability of the cooperatives' economic activities as well as the recruitment and continued participation of individual women members. Taking a feminist social reproduction perspective, the article seeks to understand the underlying dynamics of women's participation in cooperatives, as this perspective…
Deliberating in difficult times: Lessons from public forums in Turkey in the aftermath of the Gezi protests
This study examines the prospects of public deliberation in a semi-authoritarian political context and unfavourable political cultural setting through an in-depth analysis of three public forums taking place in the aftermath of the 2013 Gezi Protests. This analysis shows that while the gains of deliberation in terms of influencing policy decision-making are limited, significant gains can still be reached in terms of creating a more civic public a…
Construction of Gender and National Identity in Turkey: Images of the First Lady in the Turkish Media (2002–7)
This article analyses the conception of womanhood and nationhood in Turkey through images of the First Lady in the media. It demonstrates that while there is a struggle between the secularist and Islamist media on issues such as Turkish national identity and public visibility, the secularist and Islamist discourses overlap when it comes to gender roles. In both cases, the private sphere is designated as the primary domain of women and the agency …
Social Democracy in Turkey: Global Questions, Local Answers
This article assesses the prospects of social democracy in Turkey in light of two prominent debates regarding social democracy: the challenge of populism and the proper balance between a politics of redistribution and a politics of recognition. By focusing on the Republican People’s Party (CHP), it shows that the main problem the party faces is to find ways of addressing the issues of recognition and redistribution. Success in addressing these is…
Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP): A Longue Durée Analysis
This article employs regressive and spatial analyses to understand the correlates of the CHP’s electoral support from the first competitive elections in 1950 to the present. We find that despite some continuities in its constituency, the CHP’s voter base has changed significantly with regards to key political and social dynamics such as the Kurdish vote, effective number of parties, and urbanization. The findings give credence to the role of poli…
Faces and Phases of Women’s Empowerment: The Case of Women’s Cooperatives in Turkey
This article provides an in-depth look at women’s empowerment through women’s cooperatives. Drawing on evidence from a diverse set of women’s cooperatives in Turkey, the article investigates the prospects and constraints of women’s empowerment in contexts lacking an enabling macro-institutional framework and societal structure. Listening to the real-life stories of women from different socioeconomic and political backgrounds, we explore how and t…
Building Democracy to Last: The Turkish Experience in Comparative Perspective
This study analyses the relationship between checks and balances and democracy, focusing on Turkey in comparative perspective. In a large-N setting, the effects of checks and balances on the quality of democracy are examined. The findings reinforce the essential relationship between democracy and checks and balances. The article then discusses the implications of the the findings for Turkey. It stresses the need for horizontal accountability via …
Patriarchy and political regimes: The Role of Patriarchal Narratives in Neopatrimonialism, Populism, and the Rise of the Far Right
When Defense Becomes Offense: The Role of Threat Narratives in the Turkish Civil War of the 1970s
This article examines the role of threat narratives in the process of group mobilization for political violence, focusing on the Turkish civil war of the 1970s. It argues that threat narratives promote political violence by identifying a certain politically mobilized group as “the enemy,” and they incite fear in people against this group. Threat narratives further broaden the cycle of violence by deliberately conflating and expanding the category…
Roads “Drawn” to Modernity: Religion and Secularism in Contemporary Turkey
Editorial cartoons do not just mirror politics, but are also themselves a part of politics. They are more than single-panel graphical commentaries on daily policies, for they construct their own claims on truth. The cartoonist can use the polysemic nature of visual signs and present a distinct framing perspective. Editorial cartoonists with certain ideological stances can become an actor in “the struggle for cultural supremacy,” in Tarrow's (1998…
Roads “Drawn” to Modernity: Religion and Secularism in Contemporary Turkey
Editorial cartoons do not just mirror politics, but are also themselves a part of politics. They are more than single-panel graphical commentaries on daily policies, for they construct their own claims on truth. The cartoonist can use the polysemic nature of visual signs and present a distinct framing perspective. Editorial cartoonists with certain ideological stances can become an actor in “the struggle for cultural supremacy,” in Tarrow's (1998…
The Second International: The Impact of Domestic Factors on International Organization Dysfunction
This article explores the role of domestic factors in international organization dysfunction, exemplified by the failure of the Second International to agree on a common stance and policy for the prevention of the First World War. Focusing on the French and German socialist parties, the two most powerful forces in the Second International, it assesses how domestic factors, such as differences in the dependency on the electorate, internal party st…
When Defense Becomes Offense: The Role of Threat Narratives in the Turkish Civil War of the 1970s
This article examines the role of threat narratives in the process of group mobilization for political violence, focusing on the Turkish civil war of the 1970s. It argues that threat narratives promote political violence by identifying a certain politically mobilized group as “the enemy,” and they incite fear in people against this group. Threat narratives further broaden the cycle of violence by deliberately conflating and expanding the category…
Construction of Gender and National Identity in Turkey: Images of the First Lady in the Turkish Media (2002–7)
This article analyses the conception of womanhood and nationhood in Turkey through images of the First Lady in the media. It demonstrates that while there is a struggle between the secularist and Islamist media on issues such as Turkish national identity and public visibility, the secularist and Islamist discourses overlap when it comes to gender roles. In both cases, the private sphere is designated as the primary domain of women and the agency …
Collective Memory and National Membership: Identity and Citizenship Models in Turkey and Austria
This study seeks to explain the impact of historical narratives on the inclusiveness and pluralism of citizenship models. Drawing on comparative historical analysis of two post-imperial core countries
Building Democracy to Last: The Turkish Experience in Comparative Perspective
This study analyses the relationship between checks and balances and democracy, focusing on Turkey in comparative perspective. In a large-N setting, the effects of checks and balances on the quality of democracy are examined. The findings reinforce the essential relationship between democracy and checks and balances. The article then discusses the implications of the the findings for Turkey. It stresses the need for horizontal accountability via …
Letter from Ankara
This article focuses on the relationship between discourses of economic development and prospects for democracy in Turkey. It does so by tracing the political discourse of high‐ranking government officials and journalists close to them to show how they use arguments for economic development as a tool to politically legitimise interventions into liberal democracy. I first illustrate the dangers caused by the discourse surrounding economic developm…
Embedded Neopatrimonialism: Patriarchy and Democracy in Turkey
This article argues that patriarchal discourses can play a legitimizing role for the undemocratic elements of regimes. It focuses on neopatrimonial regimes in contemporary politics, which create impediments to democracy. Showing neopatrimonialism’s link to patriarchal discourses, the study highlights the need to situate neopatrimonialism beyond its dominant contemporary usage as material exchange between the ruler and the ruled for political supp…
Deliberating in difficult times: Lessons from public forums in Turkey in the aftermath of the Gezi protests
This study examines the prospects of public deliberation in a semi-authoritarian political context and unfavourable political cultural setting through an in-depth analysis of three public forums taking place in the aftermath of the 2013 Gezi Protests. This analysis shows that while the gains of deliberation in terms of influencing policy decision-making are limited, significant gains can still be reached in terms of creating a more civic public a…
What the City Has to Offer: Urbanization and Women's Empowerment in Turkey
This article examines the relationship between urbanization and women's empowerment through the Turkish case. The article first tests statistically the overall impact of urbanization on women's empowerment by tapping into educational, economic, and political indicators at the province level. The results yield a positive relationship between urbanization and women's empowerment. We argue that these empowerment indicators demonstrate the necessary …
The effects of executive constraints on political trust
This article explores political trust, delving into its subcomponents and the relationship between them. It is interested in explaining why governmental trust and trust in regulative state institutions are similar in some countries and different in others. It argues that the variation can best be explained by checks on the executive. This is the case because the more restricted the executive, the less regulative state institutions are affected by…
Faces and Phases of Women’s Empowerment: The Case of Women’s Cooperatives in Turkey
This article provides an in-depth look at women’s empowerment through women’s cooperatives. Drawing on evidence from a diverse set of women’s cooperatives in Turkey, the article investigates the prospects and constraints of women’s empowerment in contexts lacking an enabling macro-institutional framework and societal structure. Listening to the real-life stories of women from different socioeconomic and political backgrounds, we explore how and t…
How Does Education Affect Political Trust: An Analysis of Moderating Factors
Collective memory and the populist cause: The Ulucanlar Prison Museum in Turkey
This article focuses on how political actors appropriate the past by utilizing collective traumas for their populist cause. We demonstrate how the Ulucanlar Prison Museum in Turkey and the oppression of military interventions, for which it served as a backyard, became a tool for the AKP’s (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi-Justice and Development Party) populist agenda. Through a particular narration of history embedded in the museum, the AKP aimed to f…
Making Sense of Senseless Times: Religious Narratives and Identity in the Memoirs of Far-right Militants in Turkey
This article traces the autobiographical narratives of the far-right Ülkücü militants in Turkey, based on memoirs written in the aftermath of the 1980 coup. The Ülkücüs, who had fought on the streets against the leftist during the 1970s in the name of the state and nation, experienced a great rupture in their lives following their torturous treatment at the hands of the junta. This article examines the ways in which narratives functioned in their…
Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP): A Longue Durée Analysis
This article employs regressive and spatial analyses to understand the correlates of the CHP’s electoral support from the first competitive elections in 1950 to the present. We find that despite some continuities in its constituency, the CHP’s voter base has changed significantly with regards to key political and social dynamics such as the Kurdish vote, effective number of parties, and urbanization. The findings give credence to the role of poli…
The political economy of women's cooperatives in Turkey: A social reproduction perspective
The article analyzes the viability of women's participation in women's cooperatives in Turkey. The prospects are evaluated by focusing on the sustainability of the cooperatives' economic activities as well as the recruitment and continued participation of individual women members. Taking a feminist social reproduction perspective, the article seeks to understand the underlying dynamics of women's participation in cooperatives, as this perspective…
Memory, Patriarchy and Economy in Turkey: Narratives of Political Power
What Leads to Voting Despite Intention to Abstain: Emotions, Turnout, and Negative Campaigns in Turkish Elections
This article sheds light on the factors that pave the way from voter abstention to voter turnout based on extensive research of tweets on national and local elections in Turkey. We find that the negative campaign strategy of the incumbent and the fact that the campaigning process has taken place on a very uneven playing field have triggered a set of emotions, primarily moral outrage and anger among the electorate, which have the power to change v…
Elections and Democracy in Turkey: Reconsidering Competitive Authoritarianism in the Age of Democratic Backsliding
This article reflects on the reasons why Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) could still win in the recent 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey despite, among other daunting issues, the deep economic crisis and their unsuccessful handling of the February 2023 earthquake. The article discusses the role of state apparatus and the media under a neopatrimonial system, as well as the role of the EU, which turned Turk…
Social Democracy in Turkey: Global Questions, Local Answers
This article assesses the prospects of social democracy in Turkey in light of two prominent debates regarding social democracy: the challenge of populism and the proper balance between a politics of redistribution and a politics of recognition. By focusing on the Republican People’s Party (CHP), it shows that the main problem the party faces is to find ways of addressing the issues of recognition and redistribution. Success in addressing these is…
Introduction: Narratives and Politics
This chapter introduces the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological framework of the book. It discusses the main contributions of the book and introduces the remaining chapters of the book.
Party change and cleavage shifting in the global South: The case of Ecevit’s CHP in Turkey
This article explores the prospects of and limits to political party change through a case study of the Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) under the leadership of Bülent Ecevit in the 1960s and 1970s. We demonstrate how the CHP, via a new generation of politicians led by Ecevit, gradually transformed its ideological programme and cadres in an effort to turn into a social democratic mass party, thereby maximizing its voter ba…
Constitutive representation of womanhood: An examination of legitimation strategies used by Turkish female deputies during the headscarf debate
This article analyzes the speeches of Turkish female parliamentarians during the headscarf debate. We examine how deputies with different political and ideological predilections discursively construct women’s rights and employ legitimation strategies to validate their policy position. The findings reveal that on the one hand, the female deputies use different legitimation strategies to justify arguments for or against the use of headscarves in th…
Women and the economic field: Cooperatives and capital in Turkey
This article aims to analytically dissect the interrelated reasons behind the gender gap in wealth accumulation. To do so, it examines how the accumulation of different forms of capital by women in the course of their lives affects women’s prospects in the economic field, thereby shaping women’s potential for wealth accumulation. Focusing on women’s cooperatives in Turkey through a Bourdieusian lens, the article shows that the patriarchal roles a…
Political science (27 works) · Sociology (25 works) · Politics (23 works) · Law (22 works) · Turkey's Politics and Society (21 works) · Law (18 works) · Political economy (14 works) · Turkish (10 works) · Democracy (9 works) · Economics (9 works)