The EU accession anchor and party-political competition: democratic backsliding and Turkish EU membership discourses in Parliament
Baysan,A. & Ozdemir, S. (under-review), Mediterrenean Politics.
Democracy in the Mediterranean EU candidate countries has considerably deteriorated in recent years. This article draws on the Turkish case to assess how democratic backsliding affects parliamentary EU membership discourses. In response to the governing AKP‘s authoritarian turn, we attest increasing support for EU membership among opposition parties that are not allied with the incumbent. We also find that the predominant framing of Turkey‘s EU membership in the Turkish Parliament shifted from normative to utilitarian arguments, emphasizing cost-benefit considerations instead of liberal democratic values. Since parties‘ ideological predispositions remained relatively stable over the period under study, we pinpoint governmentopposition dynamics as the primary mechanism explaining changing party positions and frames on EU membership. The article concludes with an outlook and a discussion of implications beyond the Turkish case