Digital Politics in Turkey: Digital Democracy Practices of the Political Parties

Abstract

Digital politics includes both opportunities and risks for politicians and refers to a "new politics" understanding. In order to understand the tendencies of the ruling (Justice and Development Party) and main opposition (Republican People's Party) parties towards this “new politics” understanding which is based on the use of the opportunities offered by digital technology to create a more democratic society, in this study, the political parties' the interaction patterns on Twitter and the themes at the centre of their discourse have been analyzed between March 2020 and April 2021, covering the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study has concluded that digital political communication forms are not much different from traditional forms of political communication, that they operate in a one-way and non-dialogue manner, and that the dominant forms of politics do not open up space for critical public discussions. In the search made through the keywords that define a liberal democratic political system and cover the issues and problems arising from this system, it has been seen that both political parties excluded the problems based on the social crisis, politics and economy from their discourse.

Keywords

• Digital politics
• digital democracy
• political parties
• digital public sphere
• Twitter

Türkiye’de Dijital Siyaset: Siyasal Partilerin Dijital Demokrasi Pratikleri

Abstract

Dijital siyaset, siyasetçiler için fırsatları ve riskleri birlikte içermekte ve “yeni bir siyaset” anlayışına gönderme yapmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Türkiye'deki anaakım siyasetin iki temel aktörü olan iktidar (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) ve ana muhalefet (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) partisinin dijital teknolojinin sunduğu olanakların daha demokratik bir toplum yaratılması için kullanılmasına dayanan bu “yeni siyaset” anlayışına yönelik eğilimlerini anlamak amacıyla, özellikle COVID-19 pandemisinin ilk bir yılını kapsayan Mart 2020-Nisan 2021 tarihleri arasındaki Twitter’daki etkileşim örüntüleri ve söylemlerinin merkezindeki temalar analiz edilmiştir. Dijital teknolojinin tabandan yükselen bir demokrasinin gelişmesine ne tür katkılar sağladığını tartışan bu çalışma, dijital siyasal iletişim biçimlerinin geleneksel siyasal iletişim biçimlerinden çok farklı olmadığı, diyaloğa kapalı ve tek yönlü olarak işlediği ve egemen siyaset yapma biçimlerinin eleştirel kamusal tartışmalara alan açmadığı sonucuna ulaşmıştır. Liberal demokratik bir siyasal sistemi tanımlayan ve bu sistemden doğan konuları ve sorunları kapsayan anahtar sözcükler üzerinden yapılan taramada, her iki siyasal partinin de toplumsal kriz, siyaset ve ekonomi temelli sorunları söylemlerinden dışladığı görülmüştür.

Keywords

• Dijital siyaset
• dijital demokrasi
• siyasal partiler
• dijital kamusal alan
• Twitter

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