Pavel V. Shlykov

The paper explores the biography and academic career of Professor Mikhail Meyer, a distinguished historian of Ottoman and Turkish studies and President of the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The paper analyses the dynamics of the transformation of Turkey’s party and political system from the 1980s to the early 2010s according to five variables: voter activity, electoral volatility, fragmentation of party system (effective number of parties), level of political competition, and proportionality of party representation in parliament. The growing stabilization of Turkey’s party and political system makes increasingly difficult for any new political party to find an electoral niche and facilitates the migration of electorate between old parties. Reformation of the party and political system and creation of a new matrix for political life forced the opposition to search both the new strategies of political struggle and new approaches towards electorate and to revise both party ideology and programs.

The paper analyses the dynamics of the transformation of Turkey’s party and political system from the 1980s to the early 2010s according to five variables: voter activity, electoral volatility, fragmentation of party system (effective number of parties), level of political competition, and proportionality of party representation in parliament. The growing stabilization of Turkey’s party and political system makes it increasingly difficult for any new political party to find an electoral niche and facilitates the migration of electorate between old parties. Reformation of the party and political system and creation of a new matrix for political life forced the opposition to search both the new strategies of political struggle and new approaches towards electorate and to revise both party ideology and programs.

The article studies the role of the army and military elite in Turkey’s political transformation during the 2000s and 2010s.

The article explores the main periods and trends in the development of studies in History and Politics in the Institute of Asian and African Studies and depicts the activities of certain departments. It reveals unity and diversity in the historical and contemporary social and political development of various parts of Asia and Africa regions.