Patterns of Political Modernization and Turkish Democracy

Özet

One of Britain's most realistic writers, G. Orwell, said on one occasion "In the case of a word like democracy not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from ali sides..."1 Nevertheless, if defining democracy merely signifies giving the meaning of the word, the problem is quickly solved, for ali that is required is some knowledge of Greek. Literally democracy means "power of the people", that the power belongs to the people. However, we also have to ask what the term stands for. In 1949 a UNESCO inquiry into ideological conflicts concerning democracy issued the following statement: "For the first time in the history of the world, 110- doctrines are advanced as anti-democratic. Practical politicians and political theorist agree in stressing the democratic element in the institutions they' defend and the theories they advocate. This acceptance of democracy as the highest form of political or social organization is the sign of a basic agreement in the ultimate aims of modern social and political institutions."2 Yet the term continues to preoccupy political scientists and political philosophers. The reason lies most probably in the undeniable fact, that the majör components of democracy such as equality, self government, sovereignity, representation, majority rule encompass according to the prevailing "Zeitgeisf'a different meaning.