Author: Murat Somer | Journal of Democracy

Murat Somer is professor of political science at Koç University, Istanbul. He is coeditor, with Jennifer McCoy, of “Polarization and Democracy: A Janus-faced Relationship with Pernicious Consequences,” a special volume of American Behavioral Scientist (2018) and author of Return to Point Zero: The Turkish-Kurdish Question and How Politics and Ideas (Re)Make Empires, Nations and States (2022).

7 Lessons from Turkey’s Effort to Beat a Populist Autocrat

Murat Somer
Jennifer McCoy

What the opposition did and how Erdoğan managed to escape outright defeat.

January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1

Mainstream Parties in Crisis: Overcoming Polarization

Jennifer McCoy
Murat Somer

Around the world, polarizing political strategies are pushing societies into a vicious cycle of zero-sum politics and eroding democratic norms. If democracies are to escape this trap, wise choices and innovation by prodemocratic politicians will be needed.