Religious populist parties, nationalisms, and strategies of competition: the case of the AK Party in Turkey

Religious populism features prominently in the global political landscape. This contribution focuses on this particular type of populism, and the political strategies employed by religious populist actors, with a focus on the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP) under the...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sandal, Nukhet A. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Routledge 2021
In: Religion, state & society
Year: 2021, Volume: 49, Issue: 3, Pages: 248-263
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi / Turkey / Populism / Nationalism / Religious party / Competition
IxTheo Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
BJ Islam
KBL Near East and North Africa
ZC Politics in general
Further subjects:B Competition
B Turkey
B Islam
B Religion
B Populism
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Religious populism features prominently in the global political landscape. This contribution focuses on this particular type of populism, and the political strategies employed by religious populist actors, with a focus on the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP) under the leadership of Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey. Although there is an established literature on religious populism, there are still dynamics that need to be studied further. How religious populists outflank their rivals, especially those with relatively conservative ideologies and understandings of nationalism, remains unanswered, for example. In this study, I investigate how the AKP, as a religious populist party, has competed with and distinguished itself from other mainstream and conservative Turkish political actors and movements, and their respective nationalist ideologies: (a) the secular political establishment, including the Kemalist Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Republican People’s Party), (b) the tradition(s) the party was originally part of but is no longer viable, the Milli Görüş (National Outlook) movement, (c) other popular religious movements that have a claim to power (such as the Gülen, or Hizmet, movement), and finally (d) ultranationalist segments and parties such as the Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (Nationalist Action Party), each of which has their own interpretations of citizenship and nationalism.
ISSN:1465-3974
Contains:Enthalten in: Religion, state & society
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/09637494.2021.1949216