ABSTRACT
Having explored Derrida’s contribution to theorizing democracy in the first two chapters, the last chapter turned to democracy in Turkey, and began to consider the potential of Derrida’s work for understanding particular democracies. It opened with a brief discussion of democratization and reflected on some of the ways in which Derrida’s work challenges the fundamental premises of democratization theory. It then turned explicitly to Turkey, focussing on the 2013 Gezi Park protests as a defining moment in struggles over Turkish democracy. It considered some of the competing articulations of democracy that emerged during the protests and suggested that, among other things, the protests constituted an eruption of the struggle over the meaning of democracy in Turkey. Building on that discussion, this chapter returns more explicitly to Derrida’s work on democracy and considers how it can enrich our understanding of the state of democracy in Turkey, and thus more generally, the nature of particular democracies. The chapter extends the discussion of the Gezi Park protests as a defining
event in struggles over Turkish democracy, focussing on two competing articulations of democracy that emerged during the protests – that advanced by then Prime Minister and later President Recep Tayyip Erdog˘an, and that advanced by some (though certainly not all) of the protesters. It then revisits the three constitutive aporias of democracy discussed in Chapter Two – sovereignty, freedom and calculability – and the related distinction between democracy and voyoucracy. It explores both their articulations in struggles over Turkish democracy, and the threat and chance they present for democracy in Turkey. The chapter then turns to a discussion of the manner in which the aporias
of democracy have been confronted during, and in the aftermath of the Gezi Park protests. It briefly addresses the Turkish government’s attempts to suppress or eliminate the aporias of democracy, and then turns to the possibilities opened up for ‘living through’ or ‘acting from within’ them in a manner that perforates the Mobiüs strip of authoritarian-democracy/democratic-authoritarianism and advances (toward) democracy-to-come. Approaching democracy-to-come, the chapter argues, necessitates a reconceptualization of both community and justice along the lines proposed by Derrida and some of his
interlocutors – that is, as grounded in and responsible towards singularity. The chapter investigates Derrida’s critique of community grounded in fraternity, and the possibilities and implications of a community of singularities. Turning to justice, it explores the distinction Derrida draws between justice and law, and begins to consider the relationship between a Derridean conception of justice and democracy-to-come. The chapter concludes by returning to the Gezi Park protests, including one of its overlooked legacies, the Earth Iftar, and the emergence of the HDP (Halkların Demokrasi Partisi, or Peoples’ Democracy Party), and considers the chance they present for democracy-to-come.
