Abstract
In the last two decades, multiple Islamic parties have become incumbent parties and/or joined coalition governments. Such a development brought debate as to whether these parties could moderate into democratic actors à la Christian Democratic Parties in Western Europe, or whether they were aiming at the formation of an Islamist state and society through electoral means. What remains relatively unaddressed in the literature, however, is to what degree Islamic parties truly derive their socio-political agenda from Islam. Hence, this paper will ask, how do Islamic parties utilize Islam? To answer this question, this paper will use a single case-study approach to test and to rethink Islamic political parties and what is “Islamic” about them in the Turkish case. This paper will study the Turkish case because the country’s incumbent party, the Justice and Development Party (JDP), has been governing Turkey since 2002, making the Party the longest ruling Islamic party still in power. Based on the literature on populism, this paper will argue that the way the JDP utilized Islam can be characterized as populism flavored by religion that is based on (i) a thin theological foundation, (ii) a majoritarian rather than a multivocal interpretation of Islam, and (iii) a Muslim unity rhetoric.
Highlights
In the last two decades, multiple Islamic parties, parties that make “explicit appeals to religious constituencies [ . . . and have . . . ] significant religious factions [ . . . ] within the party” (Ozzano and Cavatorta 2013, p. 800), became incumbent parties and/or joined coalition governments
How much do Islamic parties consult religious texts in their political actions? they are defined as parties with religio-political ideals and goals, Islamic parties are not necessarily parties that engage in theological discussions
By studying theoretical literature on populism and the experiences of the Justice and Development Party (JDP) in Turkey, this paper argued that the way the JDP utilized Islam may be characterized as populism flavored by religion that is based on (i) a thin theological foundation, (ii) a majoritarian rather than a multivocal interpretation of Islam, and (iii) a Muslim unity rhetoric
Summary
In the last two decades, multiple Islamic parties, parties that make “explicit appeals to religious constituencies [ . . . and have . . . ] significant religious factions [ . . . ] within the party” (Ozzano and Cavatorta 2013, p. 800), became incumbent parties and/or joined coalition governments. It will test the hypothesis that populist parties often use demagogy by entertaining commonly held prejudices and simplistic explanations from public discourse rather than offering a nuanced take on the day’s problems, and by doing so, deepen extant polarizations and create unity within their constituency (Mudde 2004) Based on this literature on populism, this paper will argue that the way the JDP in Turkey utilized Islam may be characterized as populism flavored by religion that is based on (i) a thin theological foundation, (ii) a majoritarian rather than a multivocal interpretation of Islam, and (iii) a Muslim unity rhetoric. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the political implications of its findings for contemporary politics and the study of religious populism
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