The 1961 Constitutional Referendum in Turkey
The 1961 referendum on the new constitution was the first referendum held in the history of the Turkish republic. However, no deeper analysis of this phenomenon has been conducted in the English-language academic literature. This paper undertakes that objective. The new constitution was drafted and adopted under anti-democratic conditions. The post-coup era was a missed opportunity for instituting a stronger democracy. The referendum was the last nationwide vote in which traditional actors played significant roles in determining voting behavior. The notables and major landowners of the under-developed provinces led the masses to vote in favor of the new constitution. Starting in 1965, politics in Turkey became ideology-centered and class-oriented, thus causing the influence of traditional actors to diminish. Although the campaign for votes to support the referendum dominated the political scene in 1961, the electorate showed its distance from the coup anyway.
Illiberal Media and Popular Constitution Making in Turkey
Popular constitution making, a process that allows for public participation as opposed to a handful of elites writing a fundamental social contract behind closed doors and imposing it on the rest of society, is tricky. It sounds like a noble idea in theory, but it is difficult to execute effectively, efficiently, and, most importantly, democratically. Even trickier are the roles of publicity and media in popular constitution making. What are the consequences of reporting during the drafting of a new constitution? In what ways can the media lend legitimacy to the process by informing the public and incorporating public opinion into the drafting of a constitution? Coupled with the rise of newmedia technologies, an ideal of participatory constitution making (and an active role for the media) may seem desirable, not to mention attainable, but there are myriad ways to participate, and basing a constitution on popular opinion could easily devolve into a majority of 50 percent plus one that imposes its will on the rest. The bare minimum, ideally, is to expect journalists to report on facts without bowing to political or economic pressures, but even that is easier said than done. For which audiences are these journalistic facts intended? For those leaders drafting the new constitution or the public at large? These are not easy questions to answer empirically, not only because media and communications are often neglected in studies of constitution making, but also because the relationship between the two is hard to ascertain precisely. Popular constitution making relies on the principle that the legitimacy of constitutions reflects the process by which they are drafted as much as their content. The media are expected to play a weighty and presumably unbiased role in linking and amplifying what happens during the process. But when some of the oldest and most resilient constitutions around the world were
The problems of interprofessional healthcare practice in hospitals.
This article outlines the problems of interprofessional practice in the hospital setting. It examines the difficulties associated with competing ideologies and aims, inequalities in power relations, communication and role confusion and overlap. Within the hospital setting such problems often arise although the roots of the problem may go unacknowledged. The ways in which the problems occur in the hospital setting are considered, as is the underlying cause of such problems. Case studies will be used to analyse how the problems arise and ways in which they might be addressed.