M. Burak Cop

Research Topic

The Determinants of Electoral System Choices in Multi-Party Turkey

The doctoral research I conduct is based on the following research question: ‘What explains the electoral system choices in multi-party Turkey?’. The period of time covered by the research is 62 years which begins in 1946 and comes till the present. There have been 16 general elections during that era and four major electoral reforms (i.e. changes related to the electoral formula) came into force. My research seeks to study these four changes along with two ‘within-system’ changes and two cases of ‘non-decision’.

Electoral laws are among political institutions, thus an academic study which seeks to examine factors that determine election system choices would necessarily refer to the theories of institutional design in political science. In the last 20 years there has been a rise in the ‘institutionalist’ accounts that have different versions such as rational choice, historical and sociologist ones. This development is due to the historical institutionalist criticisms regarding the arguments of rational choice theory – the latter began to rise in political science literature in 1980’s.
A debate between rational choice and historical institutionalism scholars over the origins of and changes in institutions has consequently been generated. My research seeks to contribute to the academic debate between rational choice institutionalism and historical institutionalism over the determinants of institutions through its prospective findings concerning the factors which have determined electoral system choices in Turkish case.

Research Supervisors

Lauren McLaren and Jan Meyer-Sahling.

Primary Funding Source

Family

Research Interests

Election studies, the use of the force in international law, Turkish politics, rational choice institutionalism, and historical institutionalism.

Publications