Participation and organization in local politics : A comparative study of class and clientage in two small towns

A study of two branches of Republican Peoples Party based on field work carried out in two counties. In the two branches studied diverse forms of participation co-exist: patronage, brokerage, party directed patronage, class based corporate politics, ethnic politics, interest groups. Specific emphasis is given to the analysis of the relationships between the different forms of participation that coexist in these two towns. Recent research on political participation in Third World indicates the significance of vertical forms of participation in politics. A fundamental argument in this is that an adequate understanding in local politics requires the construction of theoretical frameworks which take into account the analysis of diversification within political participation. An attempt is made to examine local politics in Turkey from this perspective. Some approaches see two forms of participation vertical and horizontal incompatible with each other. However, the data from two branches, Kaleli and Taslik indicate that they can co-exist and some vertical forms of participation, are made use of by specific classes. The nature of the vertical forms of participation used by specific ~~ classes vary according to their own sociological characteristics the social context in which they are used, the expectation of different individuals and groups from politics. In this sense it is argued vertical forms of participation can be manifestation of class politics.