Intra-party Education and its Impact on Democracy

This paper scrutinizes the intra-party education of the political parties that hold a parliamentary group in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. These parties are the governing party Justice and Development Party (JDP), the major opposition party Republican Peoples Party (RPP), the ultra-nationalist party Nationalist Action Party (NAP) and the Kurdish Movement-Sympathetic/Corroborator Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). Drawing on a critical interpretative analysis of regulations, by-Laws and curriculum, it conveys the impact of intra-party education to democracy. By attempting to position the parties within Duverger's political party system, it speculates on whether the political parties attitude in the organization, recruitment and content of the education programs reflect their attitude on democracy. It is argued that ideologically loaded parties may display democratic attitudes within the party whereas this attitude may not be found in the broader spectrum of Turkish political life as ideology curbs the latitude of constituency.