Aykut Öztürk
Biographic Data
| ID | 4371384 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Aykut Öztürk |
| GIVEN NAMES | Aykut |
| FAMILY NAME | Öztürk |
| SIGNATURE | ÖZTÜRK A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Glasgow |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4877-4617 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 157 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Climate migration or climate immobility? Evidence from micro-level causal analysis of migration intentions in Nigeria
Climate change is a contested driver of international migration. We contribute to this debate by adopting a causal-inference perspective on micro-level migration preferences, in a literature that is dominated by aggregate or observational analyses prone to ecological fallacies, measurement error, and endogeneity biases. We examine multiple levels of exposure and types of climate hazards across both origin and potential destination locations typic…
Fearing Not Belonging
Keep positive and defend democracy
Building popular support for democracy is especially necessary in countries ruled by authoritarian regimes. Can educational interventions promote democratic support in these countries and influence how citizens evaluate their country’s political regime? To answer these questions, we conducted two online experiments in Turkey comparing the effects of two pro-democratic educational interventions, a positive frame emphasizing gains from democratic i…
Elections Without Constraints? The Appeal of Electoral Autocracy Across the World
What democratic institutions and practices do citizens prioritize, and how responsive are their preferences to competing concerns such as economic and physical security? We explore this through a conjoint experiment with over 35,000 respondents across thirty-two countries – spanning democracies and autocracies – who evaluate hypothetical countries varying in democratic features, cultural characteristics, economic prosperity, and physical security…
Promoting democracy in the context of terrorism
Democracy faces growing threats from authoritarian ideologies, especially in terrorism-affected regions. We test whether citizen-targeted democracy-promotion intervention can bolster democratic support and resist authoritarian appeals. A randomized online experiment in Burkina Faso exposed participants to educational videos focusing on: (1) introduction of civic rights democracies offer, (2) general discussion of democracy’s advantages in combati…
Advertising Online Surveys on Social Media
Although the recruitment of online survey participants through paid social media advertisements is becoming increasingly common among survey researchers, we know little about how the content of advertisements influences the recruitment process. Our study systematically compares the effects of several approaches—being vague or explicit about the survey theme and offering material incentives—relying on 23 advertisements conducted in Turkey and Spai…
A Loyal Base
Does citizen belief in the non-instrumental principles of the political regime, such as strongman leadership, patriotism, or attachment to a charismatic leader, collectively known as normative support, help stabilize authoritarian regimes? While a large literature recognizes that authoritarian regimes depend on popular support to lower the costs of staying in power, existing research mainly views mass support for these regimes as instrumental, fu…
Conceptualizing and Measuring Support for Democracy
Much of what we know about public support for democracy is based on survey questions about “democracy,” a term that varies in meaning across countries and likely prompts uncritically supportive responses. This paper proposes a new approach to measuring support for democracy. We develop a battery of 17 survey questions that cover all eight components of liberal democracy as defined by the V-Dem project. We then ask respondents from 19 national sam…
Choosing Democracy Over Party? How Civic Education Can Mitigate the Anti-Democratic Effects of Partisan Polarization
How, can the negative effects of partisan polarization on democratic attitudes be mitigated? Can polarized individuals be persuaded to choose democracy over party, that is, support a candidate from an opposing party who upholds democratic norms when their co-partisan candidate fails to do so? We tested the effect of an online civic education intervention conducted on over 41,000 individuals in thirty-three countries that was designed to promote t…
How refugees respond to hostile political discourse
How does the political discourse about refugees influence their attitudes in the host country? Relying on an online survey and experiment conducted with Syrian refugees in Turkey and Germany, this study explores the relationship between political discourse and refugees’ two potential attitudinal responses: political integration and return. Our observational analysis demonstrates that refugees’ perception of the political discourses about them is …
A paradox of ethnic politics? Minority language recognition and political trust in an authoritarian setting
Does a state's increased use of a minority language affect the political attitudes of minorities using that language? To explore the impact of minority language recognition on minority individuals’ political attitudes, we conducted an online survey experiment in Turkey, recruiting citizens of Kurdish origin. Our results point to a recognition paradox. While Kurdish people in Turkey become more satisfied with state services when these services are…
Whisper sweet nothings to me Erdoğan
Economic explanations are central to our understanding of popular support for authoritarian regimes. Yet, we do not know to what extent economic evaluations of citizens living under these regimes are amenable to regime propaganda. This article engages with this question by relying on the case of Turkey, where the authoritarian regime led by Erdoğan has been able to sustain its popular support despite years of economic decline. A national developm…
The Erdoğan Government's Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic
This article analyses the Erdoğan government's policy response to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the abundant use of moral antagonisms in his discourse, Erdoğan did not attempt to politicize the pandemic, instead framing it as a global health crisis and presenting the government's public health policies as expert-driven and competent. However, this expert-driven approach was largely a performance. Without a system of democratic oversight or a …
When Does Backsliding Lead to Breakdown? Uncertainty and Opposition Strategies in Democracies at Risk
In recent decades, prominent national leaders like Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez gained power through democratic institutions, only to undermine those institutions once in office as part of a broader effort to consolidate authoritarian power. Yet attempts at “executive aggrandizement” have failed in other countries, with varying consequences for democratic institutions. We develop an agency-based perspective to enhance…
Partisanship and Autocratization
Although theories of partisanship were developed for the democratic context, partisanship can be important in electoral autocracies as well. We use survey data to analyze partisanship in an electoral autocracy, Turkey, and find that partisanship is pervasive, strong, and consequential. Using the Partisan Identity Scale to measure partisanship, we show that, like in democracies, partisanship strength is associated with political attitudes and acti…
Epovb Award Winners 2019
Islamists against the class cleavage
One of the central characteristics of current Middle Eastern politics is the weakness of class-based political organizations. While structural explanations of this pattern abound, hegemonic struggles of Islamists to erode the class cleavage have so far been largely overlooked. In order to bring this perspective into the literature, this article studies discourses, affects and policies promoted by the Islamic trade unions confederation of Turkey, …
Partisanship and Autocratization
Although theories of partisanship were developed for the democratic context, partisanship can be important in electoral autocracies as well. We use survey data to analyze partisanship in an electoral autocracy, Turkey, and find that partisanship is pervasive, strong, and consequential. Using the Partisan Identity Scale to measure partisanship, we show that, like in democracies, partisanship strength is associated with political attitudes and acti…
When Does Backsliding Lead to Breakdown? Uncertainty and Opposition Strategies in Democracies at Risk
In recent decades, prominent national leaders like Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez gained power through democratic institutions, only to undermine those institutions once in office as part of a broader effort to consolidate authoritarian power. Yet attempts at “executive aggrandizement” have failed in other countries, with varying consequences for democratic institutions. We develop an agency-based perspective to enhance…
Conceptualizing and Measuring Support for Democracy
Much of what we know about public support for democracy is based on survey questions about “democracy,” a term that varies in meaning across countries and likely prompts uncritically supportive responses. This paper proposes a new approach to measuring support for democracy. We develop a battery of 17 survey questions that cover all eight components of liberal democracy as defined by the V-Dem project. We then ask respondents from 19 national sam…
A Loyal Base
Does citizen belief in the non-instrumental principles of the political regime, such as strongman leadership, patriotism, or attachment to a charismatic leader, collectively known as normative support, help stabilize authoritarian regimes? While a large literature recognizes that authoritarian regimes depend on popular support to lower the costs of staying in power, existing research mainly views mass support for these regimes as instrumental, fu…
The Erdoğan Government's Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic
This article analyses the Erdoğan government's policy response to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the abundant use of moral antagonisms in his discourse, Erdoğan did not attempt to politicize the pandemic, instead framing it as a global health crisis and presenting the government's public health policies as expert-driven and competent. However, this expert-driven approach was largely a performance. Without a system of democratic oversight or a …
Whisper sweet nothings to me Erdoğan
Economic explanations are central to our understanding of popular support for authoritarian regimes. Yet, we do not know to what extent economic evaluations of citizens living under these regimes are amenable to regime propaganda. This article engages with this question by relying on the case of Turkey, where the authoritarian regime led by Erdoğan has been able to sustain its popular support despite years of economic decline. A national developm…
Advertising Online Surveys on Social Media
Although the recruitment of online survey participants through paid social media advertisements is becoming increasingly common among survey researchers, we know little about how the content of advertisements influences the recruitment process. Our study systematically compares the effects of several approaches—being vague or explicit about the survey theme and offering material incentives—relying on 23 advertisements conducted in Turkey and Spai…
Choosing Democracy Over Party? How Civic Education Can Mitigate the Anti-Democratic Effects of Partisan Polarization
How, can the negative effects of partisan polarization on democratic attitudes be mitigated? Can polarized individuals be persuaded to choose democracy over party, that is, support a candidate from an opposing party who upholds democratic norms when their co-partisan candidate fails to do so? We tested the effect of an online civic education intervention conducted on over 41,000 individuals in thirty-three countries that was designed to promote t…
A paradox of ethnic politics? Minority language recognition and political trust in an authoritarian setting
Does a state's increased use of a minority language affect the political attitudes of minorities using that language? To explore the impact of minority language recognition on minority individuals’ political attitudes, we conducted an online survey experiment in Turkey, recruiting citizens of Kurdish origin. Our results point to a recognition paradox. While Kurdish people in Turkey become more satisfied with state services when these services are…
Islamists against the class cleavage
One of the central characteristics of current Middle Eastern politics is the weakness of class-based political organizations. While structural explanations of this pattern abound, hegemonic struggles of Islamists to erode the class cleavage have so far been largely overlooked. In order to bring this perspective into the literature, this article studies discourses, affects and policies promoted by the Islamic trade unions confederation of Turkey, …
Epovb Award Winners 2019
Partisanship and Autocratization
Although theories of partisanship were developed for the democratic context, partisanship can be important in electoral autocracies as well. We use survey data to analyze partisanship in an electoral autocracy, Turkey, and find that partisanship is pervasive, strong, and consequential. Using the Partisan Identity Scale to measure partisanship, we show that, like in democracies, partisanship strength is associated with political attitudes and acti…
The Erdoğan Government's Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic
This article analyses the Erdoğan government's policy response to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the abundant use of moral antagonisms in his discourse, Erdoğan did not attempt to politicize the pandemic, instead framing it as a global health crisis and presenting the government's public health policies as expert-driven and competent. However, this expert-driven approach was largely a performance. Without a system of democratic oversight or a …
When Does Backsliding Lead to Breakdown? Uncertainty and Opposition Strategies in Democracies at Risk
In recent decades, prominent national leaders like Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez gained power through democratic institutions, only to undermine those institutions once in office as part of a broader effort to consolidate authoritarian power. Yet attempts at “executive aggrandizement” have failed in other countries, with varying consequences for democratic institutions. We develop an agency-based perspective to enhance…
Whisper sweet nothings to me Erdoğan
Economic explanations are central to our understanding of popular support for authoritarian regimes. Yet, we do not know to what extent economic evaluations of citizens living under these regimes are amenable to regime propaganda. This article engages with this question by relying on the case of Turkey, where the authoritarian regime led by Erdoğan has been able to sustain its popular support despite years of economic decline. A national developm…
How refugees respond to hostile political discourse
How does the political discourse about refugees influence their attitudes in the host country? Relying on an online survey and experiment conducted with Syrian refugees in Turkey and Germany, this study explores the relationship between political discourse and refugees’ two potential attitudinal responses: political integration and return. Our observational analysis demonstrates that refugees’ perception of the political discourses about them is …
A paradox of ethnic politics? Minority language recognition and political trust in an authoritarian setting
Does a state's increased use of a minority language affect the political attitudes of minorities using that language? To explore the impact of minority language recognition on minority individuals’ political attitudes, we conducted an online survey experiment in Turkey, recruiting citizens of Kurdish origin. Our results point to a recognition paradox. While Kurdish people in Turkey become more satisfied with state services when these services are…
Promoting democracy in the context of terrorism
Democracy faces growing threats from authoritarian ideologies, especially in terrorism-affected regions. We test whether citizen-targeted democracy-promotion intervention can bolster democratic support and resist authoritarian appeals. A randomized online experiment in Burkina Faso exposed participants to educational videos focusing on: (1) introduction of civic rights democracies offer, (2) general discussion of democracy’s advantages in combati…
Advertising Online Surveys on Social Media
Although the recruitment of online survey participants through paid social media advertisements is becoming increasingly common among survey researchers, we know little about how the content of advertisements influences the recruitment process. Our study systematically compares the effects of several approaches—being vague or explicit about the survey theme and offering material incentives—relying on 23 advertisements conducted in Turkey and Spai…
A Loyal Base
Does citizen belief in the non-instrumental principles of the political regime, such as strongman leadership, patriotism, or attachment to a charismatic leader, collectively known as normative support, help stabilize authoritarian regimes? While a large literature recognizes that authoritarian regimes depend on popular support to lower the costs of staying in power, existing research mainly views mass support for these regimes as instrumental, fu…
Conceptualizing and Measuring Support for Democracy
Much of what we know about public support for democracy is based on survey questions about “democracy,” a term that varies in meaning across countries and likely prompts uncritically supportive responses. This paper proposes a new approach to measuring support for democracy. We develop a battery of 17 survey questions that cover all eight components of liberal democracy as defined by the V-Dem project. We then ask respondents from 19 national sam…
Choosing Democracy Over Party? How Civic Education Can Mitigate the Anti-Democratic Effects of Partisan Polarization
How, can the negative effects of partisan polarization on democratic attitudes be mitigated? Can polarized individuals be persuaded to choose democracy over party, that is, support a candidate from an opposing party who upholds democratic norms when their co-partisan candidate fails to do so? We tested the effect of an online civic education intervention conducted on over 41,000 individuals in thirty-three countries that was designed to promote t…
Climate migration or climate immobility? Evidence from micro-level causal analysis of migration intentions in Nigeria
Climate change is a contested driver of international migration. We contribute to this debate by adopting a causal-inference perspective on micro-level migration preferences, in a literature that is dominated by aggregate or observational analyses prone to ecological fallacies, measurement error, and endogeneity biases. We examine multiple levels of exposure and types of climate hazards across both origin and potential destination locations typic…
Fearing Not Belonging
Keep positive and defend democracy
Building popular support for democracy is especially necessary in countries ruled by authoritarian regimes. Can educational interventions promote democratic support in these countries and influence how citizens evaluate their country’s political regime? To answer these questions, we conducted two online experiments in Turkey comparing the effects of two pro-democratic educational interventions, a positive frame emphasizing gains from democratic i…
Elections Without Constraints? The Appeal of Electoral Autocracy Across the World
What democratic institutions and practices do citizens prioritize, and how responsive are their preferences to competing concerns such as economic and physical security? We explore this through a conjoint experiment with over 35,000 respondents across thirty-two countries – spanning democracies and autocracies – who evaluate hypothetical countries varying in democratic features, cultural characteristics, economic prosperity, and physical security…
Political science (12 works) · Democracy (11 works) · Politics (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Authoritarianism (8 works) · Political economy (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (6 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (5 works)