Comparative analysis of democratization in Iran and Turkey: The study of democratic consolidation phase with emphasis on political parties factor (1980- 2009)

This research attempts to explain the democratic consolidation in Iran and Turkey. To this end, the following research question is proposed: why Iran has stopped in transition phase and Turkey has moved toward consolidation.The theoretical model is extracted from the theories of democratization, consolidation of democracy, civil society and political parties. Based on the theoritical model, the hyphothesis of article is formulated: the institionalized political parties are the necessary condition for democratic consolidation. The institionalized political parties would reduce non-civilian actors and activities and is fertile ground to spreading democratic values such as toleration, moderation, trust and cooperation. The method in this article is historical comparative study. According to the emprical evidence, difference between the level of political parties’ institutionalization in Iran and Turkey has produced different results in terms of democratic consolidation in the two countries. In Turkey, since early 2000s, especially after the victory of the Justice and Development Party in the 2002 parliamentary elections, moving towards democratic consolidation phase has facilated, whereas the weakness of political parties’ institutionalization has caused democratization in Iran to cease in transition zone.