Turkey under the AK Party Rule: From Dominant Party Politics to Dominant Party System?

Abstract

The Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) more than 13 years rule has ushered in a debate as to whether the AK Party has become a "dominant party" and if so, whether Turkey is experiencing a new type of party system, a dominant-party system. In this article, we first attempt to denote the terms 'dominant party' and 'dominant-party system,' and to shed light on the distinction between these two terms by drawing on the works of Duverger, Sartori, Pempel, and Greene. This article will then analyse Turkey's experience under the AK Party to determine whether the AK Party can aptly be categorized as a "dominant party," and Turkey as having a "dominant-party system." Relying primarily on Greene's conceptual framework, we contend that it is safe to denote the AK Party as a dominant party and to designate Turkey's political system as a "dominant party system."