Isabel David

The series aims at launching new research on culture, society and political economy in Turkey from both established and emerging scholars, with the goal of shaping the field. We are looking for original material from the areas of sociology, political science, anthropology, political economy and related fields, with a theoretical and empirical focus. As importantly, the series is also looking for translations from materials this far not accessible to the English-speaking audience.
The series includes edited volumes and monographs, with 90,000-100,000 words, with 3 titles a year.
All manuscripts will undergo rigorous peer review in order to ensure the quality of the series.
Please send your carefully and professionally copy-edited manuscripts to both Isabel David (isabela_davidova@yahoo.com – preferred – or isabel.david@iscsp.ulisboa.pt) and Kumru F. Toktamis (kumru@pratt.edu).

In this chapter, I explore the role of Portuguese protest singers in helping overthrow the 1926-1974 dictatorship. Using a cultural theoretical framework combining Stuart Hall (1932-2014) and Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), I contend that protest singers can be considered “organic intellectuals”, developing tasks of emancipation through an active role in society.
The Portuguese case contributes to literature on protest songs from six standpoints. First, it demonstrates how the opposition, particularly the Communist Party (PCP), instrumentalised music in their fight against the dictatorship through a planned strategy. Second, it exemplifies how singers shattered the hegemonic narratives of the propaganda apparatus of the dictatorship. Third, it illustrates the role of music in producing cognitive frames allowing the deconstruction of that propaganda. Fourth, it demonstrates the role of music as a societal and political changer, contradicting dominant conceptions that view sheer power or political parties as the main actors for that end. Music is a locus of contentious politics. Fifth, it highlights how music can be a tool for emancipation. Finally, it underpins the unique role of a protest song (“Grândola, vila morena”, “Grândola, dark-skinned town”) in initiating a revolution. 
Despite the undeniable added value of the Portuguese case, it remains understudied. Given scarcity of research, my goal is that this chapter will provide insights into how music, if mobilised through a coherent strategy, can provide the resources for prompting regime change. The chapter answers two research questions: what is the role of protest songs in fighting unjust and oppressive regimes and narratives? How effective are protest songs in this combat? For reasons of space, I can only include a selection of the hundreds of protest songs produced during dictatorship. In the following, I begin with a theoretical discussion combining ideas from Stuart Hall (1967, 1980, 1982) and Antonio Gramsci (1994, 1999, 2001). Next, I discuss the emergence of the dictatorship and its control over Portuguese society. Subsequent sections discuss the emergence of protest songs and their impact in this period. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the efficacy of protest song in dismantling unjust narratives and regimes.

This chapter addresses the changes produced in the Portuguese political system in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis. While in many European countries traditional political parties have lost a large share of the votes to anti-systemic parties, Portugal has bucked the trend. However, the crisis has produced a major political change, otherwise impossible, given past antagonisms. A Socialist minority government in now supported in Parliament by the other three left-wing political parties (The Portuguese Communist Party, the Left Bloc and the Greens). The alliance, in its second year at the time of writing, has been gradually reversing austerity measures, offering an interesting example of anti-austerity politics in (governmental) practice.

This article explores the motivations behind the applications for Portuguese citizenship by Turkish Jews since 2015. Based on a qualitative research, the findings highlight that obtaining a second passport does not yet equate emigration. Rather, it constitutes an insurance policy aimed at alleviating growing ontological insecurity, stemming partly from their secular and westernized lifestyle and from their Jewish identity, which are endangered by perceived de-secularisation, growing anti-Semitism and authoritarian trends in Turkey.

Kurdish politics in the Middle East and within the boundaries of states where Kurdish speaking populations live, is a highly complicated, multi-layered and multi-faceted issue. In this special issue, our focus is mainly on Kurdish politics in Turkey, especially in the past fifteen years under the AKP regime, which can be considered as a dynamic episode of state-formation and (de-)democratization onto itself. This introductory piece briefly reviews some aspects of Kurdish politics in Turkey and previews the articles in this special issue.

Turkey’s recent drift towards authoritarianism has taken many by surprise. Once hailed as a democratic model for the Middle East, the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) has increasingly islamised Turkish society, jailed journalists, monopolised the judicial power and taken over the state apparatus. This article discusses the party’s behaviour, contending that Turkey’s prospects for democratisation are totally dependent on AKP’s choices as the dominant actor in Turkish politics and society. Using a theoretical framework that combines rational choice institutionalism and the role of elites in democratisation processes, the article argues that AKP’s particular characteristics and the institutional setting that influences them makes democratisation a seemingly impossible outcome. Given that EU accession and the necessary domestic reforms to meet conditionality, namely the Copenhagen criteria, equate a democratisation process, the main conclusion is that Turkey’s prospects for accession under AKP remain grim for purely domestic causes.

This article investigates the extent to which Turkish civil society organizations (CSOs) represented at the 2013 Gezi Park protests reflect a Europeanization of the Turkish public sphere. The methodology consists of 14 semi-structured interviews conducted with leaders of CSOs that participated in the protests and one questionnaire sent to a member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Istanbul Youth board (and member of the Istanbul Bar Association). The findings of our research reveal differentiated patterns of Europeanization of the Turkish public sphere, depending on CSOs’ history, ideology, and multi-level relations with the European Union and the Turkish state. Conversely, pro- and anti-AKP CSOs converge on growing criticism of EU institutions.