The Dangers of Polarization in the United States: Lessons from Democratic Backsliding in Turkey

Abstract

On January 6th 2021, The U.S. Capitol was breached by individuals who did not believe the results of our presidential election. Considering that free, fair, and frequent elections - as well as the respect of their results - are a pillar of democracy, is this a sign that the USA's democracy is backsliding as a result of bipartisanship? To address this question, this essay considers Turkey, a nation where brutal polarization and hostile partisanship has led to the ability of one autocratic ruler to stay in power over the course of the last two decades. Both party-created and self-propagating polarization have created a government in which the ruling party is justified in continuously centralizing power. While prior research has focused extensively on whether the United States is in fact backsliding, this paper investigates if the nation is going through a similar backsliding experience as Turkey, and if yes, if it has the safeguards in place to prevent the kind of backsliding that has resulted from polarization in Turkey. My analysis highlights the importance of electoral processes and emphasizes the executive incentives that drive polarization of parties in both Turkey and the United States.