Radicalised citizens vs. radicalised governments? Greece and Turkey in a comparative perspective from the December 2008 uprising to the 2013 Gezi Park protests

Abstract:

This paper examines the semantic contestation between radicalisation as hope/fear by exploring, in a comparative perspective, two significant events in Greece and Turkey that paved the way for a series of transformative processes in both societies and the wider region: the December 2008 uprising and the 2013 Gezi Park protests. Making the case for the value of such comparison, the paper argues that Greece and Turkey between the years of 2008 and 2014 represent paradigmatic cases of the radicalisation processes of both governments and citizens within the context of contemporary liberal democracies. However, in contrast to the constant use of ‘radicalisation’ as an accusation addressed by those governments and media against the dissenting segments of their societies, radicalisation, the paper argues, appears more as a growing intensification of the illiberal/conservative traits of state apparatuses during the same period. The paper concludes by assessing the effects, predicaments and prospects of the above processes in relation to democratic politics in both countries, also taking into account the latest electoral developments in 2015.