Intra-conservative Bloc Contestations on Gender Equality in Turkey - Norm Reception in Fragmented Normative Orders

Tabak H., Erdoğan S., Bodur Ün M.

JOURNAL OF ASIAN AND AFRICAN STUDIES, vol.58, no.8, pp.1375-1392, 2023 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 58 Issue: 8
  • Publication Date: 2023
  • Doi Number: 10.1177/00219096221076109
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF ASIAN AND AFRICAN STUDIES
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Periodicals Index Online, American History and Life, Anthropological Literature, ATLA Religion Database, Geobase, Historical Abstracts, Index Islamicus, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Page Numbers: pp.1375-1392
  • Keywords: Norm contestation, norm rejection, gender equality, gender justice, Istanbul Convention, Turkey, ISLAMIST WOMEN, RIGHTS, LOCALIZATION, RESISTANCE, DIFFUSION, FEMINISTS, DYNAMICS, POLICY, ERA, AGE
  • Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This research problematizes the contested nature of the global norm diffusion by focusing on intra-group rivalries and fragmentations shaping local responses (often reactionary and resistant) to global norms. Such an examination is important primarily to account for what leads to shifts in the local reception of norms over time. This study empirically explores local fragmentation, rivalry and change in response nexus in the example of the reception of the global gender equality norms in Turkey by the conservative normative bloc. It reveals that the conservative block is not a monolithic normative order and that there are two main competing receptions of the gender equality norm within the group in Turkey. With a firm emphasis on Turkey's first initiating and later withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, the study elaborates how the institutionalized conservative response to gender equality has shifted from a compromising acceptance to a rejection over time.