The Contemporary Turkish Government, Ideological Strategies and the Symbolic: A Psychoanalytic Approach to the Contemporary Politics of Turkey

Yankı Doruk Doğanay

doi:10.22151/politikon.43.4

Authors

Yankı Doruk Doğanay Bilkent University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.43.4

Keywords:

Jacques Lacan, Political Discourse, Psychoanalysis, Turkey, Unconsciousness

Abstract

The contemporary government of Turkey has been seeing increasing support for several years, and obstacles it has faced have not reduced the number of its supporters by much. This paper emphasizes that the inquiries which interpret this political conjuncture should consider the Turkish ideological atmosphere and discursive arrangements employed by politicians to manufacture consent. The author aims to discover the relation between the success of the ruling party and its discursive strategies while examining its symbolic structure and imaginary constructions using Lacanian psychoanalysis by employing interpretative discourse analysis. The author intends to highlight the nodal points of the hegemonic discourse, seeks to uncover rhetorical patterns, and attempts to explore the applicability of psychoanalysis on political and sociological issues.

Author Biography

Yankı Doruk Doğanay, Bilkent University

Yankı Doruk Doğanay, 24, from Ankara (Turkey), is a Master's student in Political Science at Bilkent University. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Middle East Technical University in 2018 and his double major degree in Philosophy from the same university in 2019. His interests include political philosophy, political sociology, psychoanalysis, discourse analysis, and social theory. E-mail: ydoruk@gmail.com.

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