TWO INTERRELATED PILLARS OF DEMOCRATIC DECLINE: JUDICIAL AND MEDIA CAPTURE IN TURKEY
Researcher
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gülçin Balamir CoşkunProject description
The project aims to explore how judiciary and media were simultaneously captured and how each process mutually enables and reinforces the other as two pillars of democratic decline. Media capture and judicial capture are two important dimensions of the general phenomenon of democratic backsliding. Political parties and leaders with authoritarian tendencies try to consolidate their power without undermining their democratic legitimacy and legality of their actions. In order to achieve such an authoritarian capture of democratic system from within, these parties and leaders target the media and judiciary not simply to suppress opposition or eliminate checks and balances, but to appropriate and use the media and courts for their own purpose.
The research has three stages. In the first and second stages, it focuses on the strategies of media and judicial capture. These two stages aim to constitute a map where the path of media capture and judiciary capture can be simultaneously followed. This mapping will help to answer the main research question on the relationship between media and judicial capture. Through this, the project will shed light also on the fact that media capture and judiciary capture enable and reinforce each other leading to a democratic decline in the political system.
Duration
2021–2023
TWO INTERRELATED PILLARS OF DEMOCRATIC DECLINE: JUDICIAL AND MEDIA CAPTURE IN TURKEY
Researcher
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gülçin Balamir CoşkunProject description
The project aims to explore how judiciary and media were simultaneously captured and how each process mutually enables and reinforces the other as two pillars of democratic decline. Media capture and judicial capture are two important dimensions of the general phenomenon of democratic backsliding. Political parties and leaders with authoritarian tendencies try to consolidate their power without undermining their democratic legitimacy and legality of their actions. In order to achieve such an authoritarian capture of democratic system from within, these parties and leaders target the media and judiciary not simply to suppress opposition or eliminate checks and balances, but to appropriate and use the media and courts for their own purpose.
The research has three stages. In the first and second stages, it focuses on the strategies of media and judicial capture. These two stages aim to constitute a map where the path of media capture and judiciary capture can be simultaneously followed. This mapping will help to answer the main research question on the relationship between media and judicial capture. Through this, the project will shed light also on the fact that media capture and judiciary capture enable and reinforce each other leading to a democratic decline in the political system.
Duration
2021–2023