Abstract :
This paper examines niche party success in Turkey by clustering issue emphases by political parties. Lack of a comprehensive analysis on niche parties in developing world, lack of a consensus on the measurement of niche parties, and even lack of a shared definition on the issue makes the related literature vaporous. In this article, I argue that the ideological position (center vs radical) of a party is much more important than policy emphases for electoral success. Drawing on data collected by the Comparative Manifesto Project, and election outcomes in Turkey from 1961 to 2011, our study revealed that even though political parties’ emphases on democracy, economy, political culture, society and justice, extreme issues such as nationalism influence niche party success to a certain degree, it is the center-party position that effects electoral outcomes primarily.
NaturalLanguageKeyword :
Niche parties , Political issue dimensions , Electoral success , Party behavior
