Political Behavior and the Emotional Citizen: Participation and Reaction in Turkey (Palgrave Studies in Political Psychology)

This Book Studies The Role Of Emotions, Such As Anger, Anxiety, And Enthusiasm, Across Various Domains Of Political Behavior In Turkey. The Author Considers How Emotions Affect Evaluations Of Leadership Performance, Levels Of Intolerance, Likelihood Of Following And Participating In Politics, Perceived Threats From Terrorism, And Electoral Decisions, Including Vote Choice. Using A Nationally Representative Survey And Experimental Data, This Study Empirically Analyses The Causal Associations Among The Primary Factors Explaining The Turkish Electorate's Political Attitudes And Behaviours. The Book Will Be Of Particular Interest To Academics, University Students, And Policymakers Seeking To Learn More About Contemporary Turkish Politics Amid The Recent Political And Social Turmoil That Has Affected All Parts Of This Society. Cengiz Erisen. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Acknowledgments 7 Contents 11 List of Figures 12 List of Tables 13 Chapter 1: Introduction 15 1 Point of Departure 18 1.1 Comparative Understanding of Policymaking and the Public 19 1.2 The Case in Point: Turkey 21 2 Plan of the Book 25 Bibliography 28 Chapter 2: Behavioral Underpinnings of Turkish Society 31 1 Historical Background of Behavioral Indicators in Turkish Politics 32 1.1 Fault Lines Inherited from the Ottoman Empire 32 1.2 Early Republican-Era Politics and the Continuous Military Interventions 33 1.3 Politics in Contemporary Turkey 37 1.4 Failed Coup and the Aftermath 41 2 Contemporary Literature on Elections and the Electorate 43 2.1 Political Behavior Literature in Turkey 43 2.2 Behavioral Approaches to the Turkish Electorate 44 2.3 Strands of the Literature with Emphasis on Electoral Behavior 47 2.4 Methods Used in Political Behavior Research 53 3 Conclusion 54 Bibliography 55 Chapter 3: Theory of Emotions 60 1 General Framework on Emotions 62 1.1 Theoretical Precursors of Why Emotions Matter for Understanding Human Behavior 62 1.2 Current Approaches in Conceptualizing Emotions 64 1.3 Distinguishing Among the Emotions 68 1.4 An Overview of the Literature on Emotions with an Emphasis on Fear and Anger 71 2 Methods in Manipulating and Measuring Emotions 74 2.1 Causality in Experimental Method 75 2.2 Manipulating Emotions 76 2.3 Measuring Emotions 79 3 Conclusion 81 Bibliography 83 Chapter 4: Emotions, Leadership Assessment, and Vote Choice 90 1 General Standing of the Country and the Most Important Problem 91 2 Track of the Country and Emotional Reactions on Major Issues 94 3 Feeling Thermometers on Political Leaders, Parties, and Party Supporters 95 4 Charisma and Leadership Traits 99 5 Emotions Regarding Leaders 104 6 Determinants of Emotional Reactions to Leaders 107 7 Predicting Political Preferences: Policy Support and Issue Positions 110 7.1 Emotions and Policy Support 110 7.2 Emotions and Issue Positions 112 8 Predicting Vote Choice 116 9 Conclusion 122 Appendix: Survey Methodology 123 Fieldwork 123 Sample Size and Distribution 123 Sample Design 123 Selection of Respondents 124 Data Collection 124 Response Rate 126 Bibliography 129 Chapter 5: Emotions and Political Intolerance 132 1 Theoretical Background on Tolerance 133 2 Sources of Intolerance 136 2.1 Perceived Threat 136 2.2 Intergroup Conflict and Prejudice 137 2.3 Elite Rhetoric 138 2.4 Disconnected Social Networks 139 2.5 Demographic Factors 139 3 Measuring Tolerance 140 4 The Role of Emotions in Tolerance 142 5 Data and the Model 144 6 Foundations of Intolerance in Turkey 146 6.1 The Least-Liked Groups in Turkey: Descriptive Findings 146 7 Structural Indicators of Intolerance 151 7.1 The Empirical Model 151 7.2 Disassociating the Effect of Emotions on Intolerance 153 Anxiety and Tolerance 153 Anger and Tolerance 155 Enthusiasm and Tolerance 156 8 Conclusion 157 Bibliography 160 Chapter 6: Emotions and Participation in Social Movements 164 1 The Model of Participating in Social Movements 166 2 Theory of Emotions in Social Mobilization 169 3 Hypotheses 171 4 Methods and Data 173 5 Results: Differentiating Anger, Fear, and Enthusiasm 176 5.1 Experimental Treatment Effects 176 5.2 Effects on the Likelihood of Social Movement Participation 178 5.3 Effectiveness of Social Movements 183 5.4 Attitudes and Evaluations Concerning the Gezi Park Demonstrations 184 5.5 Evaluations of Premiership Performance 187 6 Conclusion 190 Bibliography 192 Chapter 7: Emotions, Threat Perception, and Political Participation 196 1 The Context: The Syrian Crisis and the ISIS Threat in Turkey 197 2 Emotions, Threat Perception, and Political Interest 199 2.1 Efficacy as a Moderator Between Emotions and Political Participation 201 3 Hypotheses 202 4 Experimental Design and Data 204 5 Experimental Results 206 5.1 Experimental Effects on Threat Perception 207 5.2 Experimental Effects on Risk Preferences 209 5.3 Efficacy as a Moderator of the Experimental Effects on Political Participation 212 6 Conclusion 216 Bibliography 218 Chapter 8: Conclusion 221 1 Overall Evaluations 223 1.1 Contribution to the Literature on Emotions 227 1.2 Contribution to the Understanding of Voter Behavior in Turkey 229 2 Reflections on the Turkish Democracy 230 Bibliography 234 Index 235 Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi Introduction (Cengiz Erisen)....Pages 1-16 Behavioral Underpinnings of Turkish Society (Cengiz Erisen)....Pages 17-45 Theory of Emotions (Cengiz Erisen)....Pages 47-76 Emotions, Leadership Assessment, and Vote Choice (Cengiz Erisen)....Pages 77-118 Emotions and Political Intolerance (Cengiz Erisen)....Pages 119-150 Emotions and Participation in Social Movements (Cengiz Erisen)....Pages 151-182 Emotions, Threat Perception, and Political Participation (Cengiz Erisen)....Pages 183-207 Conclusion (Cengiz Erisen)....Pages 209-222 Back Matter ....Pages 223-231