Türkiye'de Seçim Kampanyalarının Amerikanvarileşmesi: Adalet Ve Kalkınma Partisi Ve Karizmatik Lider İmgesinin Medyada İnşası

Abstract

Political campaigns date back to 1932 where the first ones were run in the United States of America. Since then, political campaigns evolved and shaped around various techniques and continued to be a part of politics. Political campaigns supported by marketing, mass communication and high budget image campaigns could be seen in the United States of America in 1950s. Later in 1960s and 1970s the very campaigns could be seen in Europe, aiming to attract masses into politics and increase political participation. Thus, American election techniques exceeds the borders of The United States of America and become a globalized practice. Marketing techniques, communication technologies, mediatization, political campaigns targeting undecided voters and a “charismatic, strong leader” discourse, were the prominent features of Americanized campaigns. With offering unique propaganda techniques by nature, the “charismatic leader” discourse is a prominent component of Americanization and has been adopted globally. When applied properly, it has a significant role in election campaigns in a sense that it could be the strategy that can be credited for the win of a political party. The practices of “The Charismatic Leader” phenomenon of Americanization in Turkey is a remarkable topic. The current ruling party in Turkey, The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been in power since 2002 and the “Charismatic Leader” concept of Americanization has been prominent in their election campaigns. The charismatic leader image built by the party during the 2002, 2007, 2011 and 2015 general elections, has a significant importance in an overall understanding of the Americanization of the electoral system in Turkey.