http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8211-8624
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ABSTRACT
One particularly striking aspect of the global waves of social movements is the increasing politicization of youth, including students. Taking this as its starting point, this article discusses what the politicization of youth could mean for democracy and democratization in Turkey. This is important because, especially since 2011, Turkish politics has been dominated by debates concerning authoritarianization. Focusing on the largest student organization in Turkey, the Student Collectives (SC), this article shows that the relationship between politicization and democratization is more complicated than at first sight. Some aspects of the student movement in Turkey suggest it is an important moment of democratization in Turkey while other aspects arouse scepticism. Three crucial indicators of a movement’s democratic potential are whether it attends to deciphering the existing constellation of power relations, reflects on the possibility of installing a counter-hegemony and gives importance to collective identities. However, the SC’s potential democratic contribution is weakened by its conceptualization of democratic struggle in terms of antagonism rather than agonism through ‘moralizing’ politics. Moreover, its reluctance to engage with institutions of representative democracy further complicates the matter. The main contribution of this study is its discussion of various forms of politicization and their possible effects on democratization; and to give some clues to the activists of different social movements that can be helpful in their self-reflection.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Funda Gencoglu http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8211-8624
Derya Bugra Yarkin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6006-145X
Notes
1 For a chronology of the events starting with 27 May 2013; see Gürcan and Peker Citation2014.
2 The dominant tendency in these studies is, without denying the significance of digital social networks for organised political actions, to challenge and/or ‘reject technological determinism since it does not recognize the complex characteristics of student and youth movements. See for instance Cabalin Citation2014.
4 https://www.facebook.com/kolektifler/photos/a.188917817802992.52995.153245714703536/78880270781449/.
7 http://www.kolektifler4.net/kolektif-nedir/ogrenci-kolektifleri-nedir/ A “protection measure” by the Information and Communications Technology Authority was implemented on the previous website of the SC in Turkey upon a court decision dated 18 April 2017. Thus, references that are shown as (SC 2016) in this article, refers to the quotations from that website which is currently not reachable. References to the SC’s current website (www.kolektifler4.net) are given in footnotes to avoid confusion.
14 http://www.kolektifler.net/haberler/ulkeden/kolektife-saldirmaniz-nafile-kimse-dokunamaz-cerattepeye-seda-kenanoglu/ accessed January 18, 2017.
15 Üniversiteli, No. 29, November-December 2015, p.19.
17 The SC was in the forefront defending Erdem Gül and Can Dündar, two journalists charged with revealing state secrets and facing multiple heavy life sentences. See https://kolektifler.net/2016/02/124-iletisim-kolektif-ozgur-basin-direnerek-yazmaya-devam-edecek. https://twitter.com/kolektifler/status/687348896016785408; https://twitter.com/kolektifler/status/687308601560592384.