The effect of unions on political participation in Turkey: Case studies between 1989-2020

Unions are important organizations for the establishment of democracy in a country. Non-governmental organizations and unions as pressure groups are organizations that carry out activities to influence the decisions of the political will on social issues, follow the financial and personal rights of the employees and the public's agenda as well as. In this direction, trade unions which struggle to increase the financial, social and personal rights of the people they represent as their main mission, put pressure on the governments for the interests of the labour sector. Considering political participation only as the election of the people to govern themselves is in contradict with the understanding of contemporary democracy. Considering democracy as a representative system in which the people express their will from election to election and use of vote by the people in a certain period of time and after that no intervention in politics is incompatible with the real understanding of democracy, since in advanced democracies it is necessary for the people to participate in the governing bodies continuously. Thus, non-governmental organizations and pressure groups as well, improve political participation and democracy due to their function in influencing the decisions taken by the rulers in a country. In today's societies, where there is a shift from representative democracy to participatory democracy, the importance of political participation is increasing day by day, and non-governmental organizations are becoming an important actor in this process. Non-governmental organizations and unions, which function to limit political power in order to expand the civil sphere, increase rights and freedoms in this way as well. For non-corruption of the political power participatory democracy is necessary, while the development of participatory democracy is possible with the limitation of political power and the expansion of the civil sphere. As a result of this study, in which the efforts of unions on political participation are explained; It has been concluded that the unions have contributed to the political participation of the people and the development of democracy by exceeding the limits of the wage earner with their actions and works in both the social-political and trade union fields.