Political Behavior and the Emotional Citizen by Cengiz Erisen

Author:Cengiz Erisen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK, London

9 Conclusion

Turkey’s current social stress and political turmoil, while facing an extremely uncertain environment, have made felt emotions play a prominent role in public opinion. In line with the evidence presented in this chapter, affective polarization is a significant reality of recent Turkish politics. Separation of emotion domains from each other and specifically for the bases of each party showed a polarized public. In other words, anger and anxiety felt toward the disliked party (or out-party) leader and enthusiasm toward the liked party (in-party) leader were pronounced across issues, politics, and vote choice. These conditions have engendered the perfect opportunity for political leaders to benefit from the situation and becoming the center of attention for all aspects of politics. Emotions evoked by the charisma and leadership qualities of these leaders have motivated political behavior that prioritizes feelings over conventional political beliefs and assessments. Accordingly, this chapter has begun to explain how such emotions have become so important in Turkish political behavior.

Given the findings reported here, one may ask why Turkish people have continued to support President Erdoğan, given his polarizing persona and leadership style. The most reasonable explanation refers to the context in which Turkish society has remained since 2013. Various challenges to national security and the government have left the country in disarray and crisis, which has inevitably made a charismatic leader appear even more powerful for a secure exit out of the uncertainty. Since 2001, then newly formed right-wing AKP has swept away all the established parties, with Erdoğan being perceived as a charismatic leader. As history has shown, similar processes have occurred elsewhere, especially in democratically developing countries of Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Southeast Asia whereby charismatic leaders have appeared even stronger, and today, across the democratically developed countries where populist leaders receive significant support. In such contexts, the public appears willing to sacrifice their civil rights and personal resources (e.g., time, goods, and effort) in favor of national stability secured by a strong leader. Meanwhile, established political parties and institutions appear weaker, and the existing system of checks and balances loses its value, all for the sake of a charismatic leader who can rescue the country.

The models presented in this chapter may appear basic, but they in fact include the most significant effects of emotions across various domains. The effects are robust and consistent for emotions as opposed to mostly preferred ideological and demographic indicators in the Turkish context. As the interpretation on the limited effects of political ideology being overwhelmed by the emotional reactions on the leaders is at its first stage, the following chapters will present further tests of alternative hypotheses. Through the use of complex models and analyses, the following chapters demonstrate the explanatory power of these models by focusing on the role of emotions in specific domains, specifically intolerance (in Chap. 5), political mobilization (in Chap. 6), and political participation (in Chap. 7).

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