TURKEY - Political science in the age of populism: perspectives from Turkey [Scholarly Article - European Political Science, January 2021]

Title:

Political science in the age of populism: perspectives from Turkey 

 

Authors:

Duygu Ersoy & Jülide Karakoç 

Altınbaş University, Buyukdere cad. No: 147, Esentepe Istanbul, 34394, Turkey

 

Published:

European Political Science, Volume 20, 19 January 2021

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41304-020-00310-w

 

Abstract:

This article discusses the impact of political transformations on political science in Turkey during the Justice and Development Party (AKP) period from 2002 to the present, with a particular focus on the experiences of political scientists. After first taking power and in accordance with its concerns about attaining domestic and international legitimacy, AKP launched a democratization process by implementing several reforms leading toward EU membership. During this process, the boundaries of politics were broadened, enabling political discussion of certain taboo topics. However, this trend was reversed after AKP’s authoritarian populist tendencies strengthened. The party’s growing anti-intellectualist stance has also made scholars the target of the government’s populist discourse. These circumstances make it critical to examine the challenges Turkey’s political scientists experience since their discipline is directly influenced by the boundaries of what is political. This study therefore explores these challenges through ten in-depth interviews conducted with political scientists. It finds that political scientists mostly engage in self-censorship to protect themselves under Turkey’s populist authoritarian atmosphere, which has narrowed down in-class discussion and research agendas leading to the impoverishment of the discipline in Turkey.

 

The Emerging Phenomenon of Anti-Chinese Populism in Africa: Evidence from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana [Scholarly Article - Insight on Africa, Dec 2020]

Title:

The Emerging Phenomenon of Anti-Chinese Populism in Africa: Evidence from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana

 

Author:

Hagan Sibiri

School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

 

Published:

Insight on Africa, 24 December 2020

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0975087820971443

 

Abstract:

This article explores the salient of anti-Chinese sentiments in Africa and how it has been utilised or materialised as a populist strategy in election campaigns. The contention herein is that anti-Chinese populism has emerged from the rising anti-Chinese sentiments and is utilised primarily as a rhetorical strategy to gain electoral support. In particular, political actors mostly seeking power are inclined to identify and declamatorily rehashed the salient issues driving the anti-Chinese sentiments in political platforms to attract attention and to gain the support of the electorate’s concern about same issues. This dimension of populism hinges not on ideational leanings, but nothing more than an opportunist strategy of exploiting wedge issues for electoral gains. The implications of such an emerging phenomenon cannot be underestimated. Not only is it a hindrance to the budding Africa–China relations but also decadent for China’s global status and its ambitious foreign policy.