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The last straw of democratization? Political Opportunity Structure and Social Movement Effects of the Gezi Park Demonstrations in Turkey

Hakemuksen tiivistelmä

The Gezi movements initiated by the actions of a few sensitive environmental activists in May, 2013 still maintains its importance in terms of the politics and society in Turkey. After these events, Turkey has never been on the way it was before from political structure to social and daily life. In this research, I study the Gezi movement as contentious politics, deploying the conceptual tools of political opportunity structure and of the effects of social movements. Gezi protests created a watershed upon the Turkish social and political life by its causes and effects especially on democracy. Therefore, examining such a great event in terms of causes and effects is crucial to understand such countries in which democracy does not literally settle. The aim of the study in using the two theoretical approaches “Political Opportunity Structure and Effects and Consequences of Social Movements is two-fold. Firstly, the study examines a multi-causal relationship between structures and social movements in the Gezi case. This causal relationship contributes to an increased understanding of the conditions created by the political regime. Secondly, studying how the political regime’s structures shape the process of mobilization, politicization during this uprising and how social movements effect the society and the political regime will enable exploring the ambivalent relations among structure, time, politics, and society.

This dissertation titled "The Last Straw of Democratization? Understanding the Gezi Protests in Turkey through Participants' Narratives" aims to explore the Gezi movement in 2013, a series of significant anti-government social protests in Turkish, by delving into the emotional narratives of its participants. The study addresses the gap in the literature concerning the emotional accounts of those involved in the protests and their aftermath. By employing narrative analysis and the sociology of emotions, the research investigates the emotional dimensions of the Gezi protests and their impact on Turkish society, focusing on participants' perspectives before, during, and aftermath of the movement. This approach provides valuable insights into the emotions, narratives, and collective experiences that influenced the protests' development and aftermath. The study contributes to social movement literature by offering a unique, retrospective viewpoint that sheds light on the emotional dynamics and narratives shaping the course of the Gezi movement.

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