Social Policy Approaches of the Political Parties in Turkey

Year 2018, Issue: 3, 53 - 62, 31.12.2018

Selçuk Gürçam

Abstract

The political parties of Turkey have different attitudes towards some issues such as secularism, laicism, governmental system, constitution. Social policy has been a peripheral issue. However, the ideological stances of the parties should be crystallised through their stances regarding social policy. This paper pointed out the social policy orientations of the political parties represented in the parliament following the 2007 elections. The party programs and elections manifestos of the parties were the primary focus of attention in the study. The political dimension was central in the discussion of social policy since political parties are the major actors in its implementation. However, their ideological standpoints have been disregarded in the current debates, and only some practices are referred to. To overcome such a drawback, this study elaborated on the issue in a more comprehensive and theoretical manner.

Keywords

political parties, social policy, welfare politics, Turkish politics, Turkey

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