An Unfinished Grassroots Populism: The Gezi Park Protests in Turkey and Their Aftermath
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Date
2015
Authors
Özen, Hayriye
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Publisher
Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd
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Abstract
Focusing on the Gezi protests, this study addresses two questions: How did a particular struggle against the demolition of a park spontaneously turn into nationwide mass protests? And why was this mobilisation unable to transform itself into a popular counter-hegemonic movement? Drawing on the Laclauian concept of populism, I demonstrate that Gezi mobilised various groups by turning into a symbol of the repressive responses of the hegemonic power to various social demands. This popular mobilisation could not go beyond a conjunctural experience due to its inability to unify heterogeneous protesters and to respond effectively to the counter-strategies of the hegemonic power.
Description
Ozen, Hayriye/0000-0001-5476-176X
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Keywords
Populism, Popular Movements, Gezi Protests, Gezi Park, Turkey
Turkish CoHE Thesis Center URL
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Citation
37
WoS Q
Q1
Scopus Q
Q1
Source
Volume
20
Issue
4
Start Page
533
End Page
552