'Radical Social Democracy': A Concept That Has Much to Say to Social Democrats in Turkey

Abstract

This article aims to link theory and practice by connecting the experience of social democracy in Turkey with the theory of radical democracy and thereby elaborate on the notion of radical social democracy' in the sense Chantal Mouffe used the term. Parallel to the repeated electoral successes of the governing Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalknma Partisi - AKP), the academic literature has become increasingly AKP-centred and, concomitantly, social democracy debate has become unproductive in Turkey. However, social democratic parties, notably the Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi -CHP), have been playing important roles in Turkish political life. Thus, this study endeavours to open a new window to the social democracy debate in Turkey by attracting attention to the central concepts of radical democracy such as anti-essentialism, hegemony, antagonism, collective identities, chain of equivalence, all of which are considered as functional for radical social democracy.