Which matters more in the electoral success of Islamist (successor) parties – religion or performance? The Turkish case

Bibliographic Data

ID6316773
AuthorsElisabeth Gidengil (0000-0001-8198-5654, McGill University), Ekrem Karakoc (0000-0002-1186-4512, Binghamton University)
Year2016
Volume22
Issue3
Pages325-338
Publication date2016-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueParty Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1354-0688 • E-ISSN: 1460-3683
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1354068814549341
OpenAlexW2028561644
LanguageEN
Citations received29
References cited43

Does the electoral success of Islamist parties depend on the support of religious voters or does it owe as much or more to their performance in dealing with key political and economic issues? The repeated electoral success of an Islamist-rooted party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey, provides an important opportunity to answer this question. Using a nation-wide survey conducted in 2011 in Turkey, our findings suggest that in addition to religiosity the party’s performance with respect to social services, the economy and democracy were determining factors in the AKP’s success. We also found that the popularity of political leaders has an independent effect on party preference. We discuss similar tendencies in the aftermath of the Arab Spring elections where the Islamist parties emerged as the major winners

Democracy · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Popularity · Preference · Religiosity · Single non-transferable vote · Sociology · Successor cardinal · Turkish · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Turkey's Politics and Society

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