Discursive Governance Over Pro-Population Politics in Turkey

Abstract

Discursive governance of pro-population politics refers to norm-based mechanisms of governance that utilise intentionally selected slogans in political discourse for dissemination of ideas to further the interests of political authorities. Such ideas can be disseminated via modern communication technologies enabling governance to build social representations within the public sphere without policy constraints. It is our proposal that the pro-population state discourse in Turkey after 2008 constitutes an example of discursive governance. Our findings show that discursive mechanisms can lead to a change in married couples' reproductive attitude without significant policy alteration and further the debate in view of discursive governance of population politics.

The vague limits of bodily autonomy: Prenatal experiences and the preference of caesarean births by women in Türkiye

“…According to Kandiyoti (1998), the structure of the patriarchal family in Türkiye assumes that men are the only authority, as they are 'bound up in the incorporation and control of the family by the state' (p. 278). Thus, post-2008-the approximate date of the pro-population discourse started in Türkiye (Pehlivanlı et al, 2020) fits perfectly within traditional Turkish customs. Sever and Gökçiçek assert that women's ultimate role in Türkiye is to be caregivers and nurturers; hence, marriage and motherhood are their main paths to attaining social status (Sever and Yurdakul, 2001:969).…”

Policy-making by tweets: discursive governance, populism, and Trump Presidency

“…When systematically used in a discourse, ideas facilitate change by shaping and convincing public opinion that policy change is necessary (Zurnic, 2014). Political leaders formulate their discourses not for an audience, but for the consumption of the general public (Pehlivanli-Kadayifci et al, 2020). Accordingly, discourse is a communicative action: it is the active process of conveying ideas to the public where the agent uses persuasion to create shared understandings and build consensus (Schmidt, 2008(Schmidt, , 2010.…”