Student movement in Turkey from a global perspective, 1960-1971

Abstract

This study aims at explaining the political and social dynamics behind the rise of the student movement in Turkey in the 1960s. It tries to combine historical narrative with sociological data and provides an analytical framework to understand the rise of the student politics. Regarding the global character of the student movements in the sixties, this study focuses on the Turkish case from a global and comparative perspective. The analytical framework of the study is mainly borrowed from the political process model of the social movements literature. It gives special emphasis on the opportunity structures in the political realm that provides ground for the social movements. This study stresses on the processes that reinforced the collective identities of students, along with the increase in their organizational capacities. Since the politicization of the students took place in alliance with the bureaucratic elite, it emphasizes the dynamic processes of changing alliances and the balance of political power that was marked by a cleavage between the bureaucratic elite and the political elite of Democrat/Justice Party tradition. The intensification of student politics in the sixties is almost a universal phenomenon. This is why it is impossible to understand the Turkish case in isolation it from the global context. So, this study aims to situate the Turkish case in a global context and tries to identify the similarities and differences between the characteristics of the Turkish student movement and certain ideal types from the developed and developing countries. This needs also to understand the nature of the relationship between the global and local dynamics underlying the rise of the student politics.