susbed Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 2667-4750 Selçuk Üniversitesi 10.52642/susbed.1856292 Applied Economics (Other) Uygulamalı Ekonomi (Diğer) Sağ Popülizm Bağlamında Liderlerin Bürokrasi ile İlişkilerinin İncelenmesi: Trump Örneği Examining Leaders’ Relations with Bureaucracy in the Context of Right-Wing Populism: The Case of Trump https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0907-8771 Özdilek Elif UFUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ 04 30 2026 59 316 332 01 05 2026 04 01 2026 Copyright © 1992, Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 1992 Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi

Bu çalışma, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nin 45. Başkanı Donald Trump’ın popülist siyasetini incelemekte ve popülizmin Trump’ın liderlik tarzı üzerindeki etkisini analiz etmektedir. Araştırma, 2016 ve 2024 seçim kampanyaları sürecinde üretilen siyasal söylemleri kampanya konuşmaları, siyasal reklamlar, seçim sloganları ve afişler dâhil olmak üzere eleştirel söylem analizi çerçevesinde değerlendirmektedir. Çalışma, Trump’ın bir popülist lider olarak duyguları nasıl harekete geçirdiği, medyayı nasıl kullandığı ve popülist bir iletişim üslubunu nasıl benimsediği sorusunu merkeze almaktadır. Bu bağlamda, Trump’ın popülist yaklaşımı aracılığıyla gücü nasıl ürettiği ve meşrulaştırdığı; bu sürecin güç ve söylem ekseninde nasıl şekillendiği incelenmektedir. Ayrıca, eleştirel perspektiflerin temel unsurları olan güç, tahakküm, eşitsizlik ve ayrımcılık gibi kavramların Donald Trump’ın popülist söyleminde ne ölçüde yer aldığı ve nasıl ifade edildiği araştırılmaktadır. Bu çalışma, Donald Trump örneği üzerinden bir popülist liderin siyasal dili nasıl kullandığını, söylem aracılığıyla nasıl güç ürettiğini ve bu sürecin Cumhuriyetçi Parti’nin siyasal söylemine nasıl yansıdığını ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu doğrultuda, popülizmin siyasal liderlik tarzı üzerindeki etkisi ile söylem aracılığıyla kurulan temsil stratejileri derinlemesine analiz edilmekte; liderlik ile popülizm arasındaki ilişki kuramsal ve ampirik düzeylerde değerlendirilmektedir. Bulgular, Trump’ın popülizmi tutarlı bir ideoloji olmaktan ziyade ağırlıklı olarak üslup düzeyinde kullandığını göstermektedir. Bu bağlamda Trump’ın popülizmi; halk–elit karşıtlığı, “biz–onlar” vurgusu, basit, yalın ve doğrudan ifadelerin kullanımı, yerellik, milliyetçilik ve gelenekçiliğe yapılan göndermeler, kriz ve tehdit söylemi ile kaba tavırlar ve abartılı ifadeler gibi retorik stratejilerle karakterize edilmektedir.

This study examines the populist politics of Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, and analyzes the impact of populism on Trump’s leadership style. The research evaluates political discourses produced during the 2016 and 2024 election campaigns—including campaign speeches, political advertisements, campaign slogans, and posters within the framework of critical discourse analysis. The study is guided by the central question of how Trump, as a populist leader, mobilized emotions, utilized the media, and employed a populist style of communication. It investigates how Trump produced and legitimized power through his populist approach, and how this process was shaped along the axis of power and discourse. Furthermore, the study explores the extent to which concepts such as power, domination, inequality, and discrimination—core elements of critical perspectives are embedded in and articulated through Donald Trump’s populist rhetoric. This study aims to demonstrate, through the case of Donald Trump, how a populist leader employs political language, produces power through discourse, and how this process is reflected in the political rhetoric of the Republican Party. Accordingly, the impact of populism on political leadership style and the representational strategies constructed through discourse are analyzed in depth, and the relationship between leadership and populism is evaluated at both theoretical and empirical levels. The findings indicate that Trump primarily employed populism at the level of style rather than as a coherent ideology. In this context, Trump’s populism is characterized by rhetorical strategies such as the people–elite dichotomy, the emphasis on “us versus them,” the use of simple, plain, and direct expressions, appeals to locality, nationalism, and traditionalism, frequent references to crisis and threat, as well as the use of coarse manners and exaggerated statements.

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