Politikleşme Ve Siyasal Katilimi Etkileyen Faktörler Adalet Ve Kalkinma Partisi Gençlik Kollari Örneği
Factors Affecting Political Participation of the Youth. The Case of the Justice and Development Party Youth Commission

Summary/Abstract: Most of the fieldwork-based academic studies on the political participation of youth in contemporary Turkey show a weak level of engagement in the young generations born after the coup d'état of 12 September 1980. The level of political participation in conventional and unconventional modes – as revealed by these studies – is generally no higher than %10. This attitude is explained with reference to pressures exerted by the military after the 1980 golpe, to individualistic behaviors in the context of neo-liberal politics, to critiques expressed by the youth concerning the corruption and clientalistic nature of the political system. On the other hand, even though the general level of political participation among the youth is very low, there are others who are actively engaged. What are the factors that motivate these young people to be members of traditional political parties? This article aims to analyze the topic of political participation of the youth in Turkey from the perspective of those engaged in the Justice and Development Party. What makes the youth of the JDP an important case is their high level of engagement and their activism during electoral campaigns, which led to an increase in the party's votes. This article is based on data collected in a fieldwork realized in six cities of Anatolia between May and August 2010. It contains 63 interviews. Political engagement stories obtained in this research show that five factors have motivating effects on the political participation processes of the youth: those are family, political leader, social milieu and political context, individualistic expectations. Beside the role of the identification with the political leader, the politicization of primary or secondary socialization spaces of the young people is also determinant in their decision to join to the JDP.

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