Political parties are very new among the structures that represent power throughout history. Because, as the legitimate representative of the state power, they have been representing the government since a century. In particular, the collapse of empires, the response of modern political ideas in the world, and finally the change in the source of legitimacy paved the way for political parties to become an actor in the state administration. The fact that religion is a fundamental value in terms of social and administrative aspects and the fact that legitimacy phenomena such as the transfer of power from god to king are no longer valid has also changed the perception of power in an abstract sense (AΔaoΔullarΔ±, 2013). While the aristocrats or centralized empires that ruled the state and economy lost their power, the bourgeoisie and the masses representing them were also organized economically and politically. Established organizations and factions are the early prototypes of today's modern political parties. According to Tanilli, the first examples of political parties existing today started to emerge in Western Europe when the bourgeoisie became dominant in the parliament by gaining superiority over the monarchy in relation to the changing economic production relations (Tanilli, 2007: 215). The formation of a large mass of conscious voters became possible with the acquisition of universal suffrage in Europe over time and the perception of having a say in political power. In the face of this, the existence of power controlled by a small ruling elite has disappeared and the period of power of political parties has begun. It is obvious that the conflict between mentioned classes is a power struggle. The means of the power struggle in the new period are the organizations called political parties. In the19th century, Max Weber sees that as a result of modern democracy and giving the right to vote to the people, the activities carried out for the purpose of influencing and organizing the public emerged in the form of political parties (Tezic, 2004: 88). In addition, the increasing complexity of the state structure and political systems (Daver, 1985: 98) reveals that political parties are necessary for the administration of the state. In terms of the question of who will have a say in the administration of the state, Tanilli states that political parties are the political equivalent of class conflicts that occur in society (Tanilli, 2007: 211). Berkes, on the other hand, attributes the emergence of modern political parties to the result of the struggle for economic benefits (Berkes, 1946: 5). Today, it is a known fact that economic activities go beyond the borders of the state and form a global network. In this respect, the view that accepts political parties as structures that have emerged in the name of economic interests has to take into account the globalization process. In fact, while political parties were the representatives of economic distribution in the political competition dimension, today global companies have become larger than the economic scale of some states. Therefore, globalization affects states and political parties directly and indirectly. As a matter of fact, globalization will affect everything that exists within national borders, since by its very nature the increasing connections around the world have transnational and territorial characteristics (Scholte, 2000).
In the globalizing world, political parties communicate with the society through many different channels. In the classical sense, propaganda activities during election periods, activities of party organizations to recruit members to the party, use of written and visual media tools within the scope of advertising and public relations are some of these communication methods. However, while modern nation states allow political parties to take over the power for a certain period of time, they have made this subject to legal norms. Political parties also have to guarantee the rights of citizens in the negative sense. In order to protect general freedoms, the positive rights of the state in the legal context have been developed to restrict some freedoms (Pettit, 1998). This is the basis of the legal legitimacy of the state. Political parties, on the other hand, develop policies and operate the political order within the framework of this structure. As a result of the shocking acceleration of economic and political transformation by globalization, the power of the state to maintain the balance in the legal order has decreased and the concept of legitimacy has begun to transform. In this context, it is no longer sufficient to use the classical tools of the modern era in the relations of political parties with both voters and party members. Criticisms that the end of representative democracy has come (Naisbitt, 1994: 24) are also formed in this context. Because different segments of the society are dealing with each other and with segments that are in different political ranks by using order and continuous interactive communication channels. Heywood (2016: 159) explained the voluntary acceptance of authority in the political sense on the basis of legitimacy. In this context, the fact that political parties are subject to the consent of the society while using the state authority is to ensure legitimacy. The diversity and differences created by globalization have made it more and more complex to consent to authority. According to Naisbitt, globalization can lead to the formation of tighter ties in societies such as religion, language and ethnicity (Naisbitt, 1994: 24). Therefore, when political parties enter into relations with individuals and communities, they may encounter different social tendencies, as Naisbitt states. In addition, representatives of political parties are also a part of this process. Due to the functioning of representative democracy, political parties now have to continue to establish close ties with the voters who voted for them and with the sympathizers who adopt the party ideology. However, the nature of this relationship and the differences between the masses are gradually decreasing. The distinction Duverger (1974) made between voters and sympathizers is now highly eroded. Because in the past, the voters, called the silent majority, used to show their political orientation in the elections without revealing their political colors. However, today, both social media shares, data obtained from people using internet data, and continuous surveys and scientific studies are used as data by parties and other institutions of instant political trend changes. While this situation allows the momentary changes in political tendencies to be partially known, it also makes it open to manipulation. Because the sharing of symbols and verbal expressions with political content by individuals and communities increases the total data size, while increasing the standard deviation share and manipulation. Therefore, the success of companies conducting research for elections in Turkey in recent years has begun to be questioned. In an environment where relations have become very complex, information pollution has increased, and individuals and communities are constantly confused, it can be easily understood from the example of Turkey that instant political data can change rapidly in a short time. The emergence of political processes in which this unpredictability increases, necessitates the political parties to adapt to this situation and take precautions. Especially after the 1980s, it has been seen that the understanding of the social state has begun to change in OECD countries. Reducing state intervention, privatizations, and reducing social services caused problems especially in unemployment (Habermas, 2018: 60). Today, the decline of the economic power of the state is one of the most obvious consequences of globalization, and it will be inevitable for representative democracy to weaken even strong governments without the state's all-encompassing economic support. While this is the case in developed or developing countries, it is worse in less developed countries. The dream of going to other countries and establishing a new life for the poor masses also increases the global population movements. For example, the increase in migration movements in recent years has put a lot of pressure on states and political parties. Because the entry of a large number of immigrants through the country's borders means a mandatory change in policy items such as employment, security and integration. As the number of immigrants increases, it is not surprising that the economic concerns of the citizens increase and they begin to question the political authority. In the context of the nation state, immigrants were not seen as desirable and productive groups, unlike minorities (Kymlicka, 2016: 491). In this context, the European Union published a statement with Turkey on 16 March 2016 in order to control the number of irregular migrants in the union (AkdoΔan, 2018: 69). Undoubtedly, the purpose of the European Union to publish this statement with Turkey is to refrain from the damage that irregular migrants will cause in the fields of economy and security.
The adaptation of political parties to globalization also depends on the successful adaptation of the party leadership to this process. Therefore, it is possible to say that non-traditional approaches and the demands of the new generation are more taken into account in the discourse and policies of the political parties established in the 1990s. Bringing the right concepts together and successfully applying the formulas developed by the political cadres who can observe the transformation in politics and keep up with the times means being in power and ensuring the longevity of the power. It is possible for political party cadres to create stronger communication channels with the voters by using new digital media platforms. However, due to reasons such as the difficulty of controlling digital media and the possibility of voters to organize against the political party in a short time, policy-making processes may be blocked and the democratic process may be interrupted (Maarek, 2014: 20).
Today, the development of communication technologies has led to the expansion of the public sphere. The natural result of this is that people's preferences and political-social movements are more visible. Powerful communication tools and increasing possibilities cause Duverger (1974)'s classification of people's political participation to become more complex. Prior to globalization, political movements' disclosure of their policies and propaganda were more unidirectional than from a single source or within an organization. However, in the 1990s and later, political parties began to experience difficulties both in terms of regular members and active members. Because one of the most powerful elements in a representative democracy for political dominance with traditional methods is undoubtedly human resources. Political party members are considered as the sensors of the society and convey the thoughts and complaints of the society to the party leaders (Poguntke, 2002: 13). Members perform these tasks within a certain framework and in a defined format. For example, Panebianco defines the concept of political party membership in a narrow framework as those who pay regular dues to the party and occasionally attend rallies (Panebianco, 1988: 25). According to the classical understanding, the nature of the relationship that party members establish with the political system also changes. Because the power of new communication channels now offers people the chance to exist in the political system without being a member of political parties. Therefore, political parties and their affiliated organizations, which lost their members in the new conditions of the changing world, found themselves in a crisis. To give an example, even though Norway's voter and party membership rate is high in Europe, in terms of total party membership, while it was 461,000 in 1980, this number decreased to 237,000 in 1999 (Tosun & Tosun, 2010: 27). However, the structural turn in the world has also paved the way for people to access information more easily and to reach a large number of people through the internet and then social media applications such as Twitter. For this reason, the transformation experienced all over the world with the effect of globalization has led to the questioning of concepts and the penetration of new concepts into daily life. Political parties, which have to open up to a completely different world than before, have to adapt to new conditions. As a matter of fact, this adaptation cannot prevent both the voters of political parties and the questioning of party members about legitimacy.
author: Ertugrul Bugra Orhan
0 comments:
Post a Comment