Turkish Politics and ‘The People’

A novel, interdisciplinary approach to populism and Turkish politics over the past 100 years This book enhances our understanding of 'the popular' in the study of politics through a critical examination of the uses and constructions of 'the people', from the establishment of the Turkish Republic to the present. It proposes ways of reading the insertion and operationalisation of the notion of 'the people' as a concept, a political subject, the object of policy and politics over the past century. The author assesses the ways 'the people' have been shaped by the history of the republic and how - in turn - they have informed ways of visualising society, the country's political culture and institutional architecture, and framed the parameters and repertoires of political action. Key Features  Offers a genealogy of the notion of 'the people' in Turkish political culture  Provides a highly original analysis of the performative, discursive, cognitive and affective elements that underpin Turkey's populist adventure  Proposes key conceptual tools to study popular and populist politics and applies them to the Turkish case  Intertwines contemporary political analysis with extensive historical research, bringing together insights from critical and political theory, sociology, social anthropology and cultural studies Spyros A. Sofos is a Political Sociologist at the Middle East Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science.