Huri Tursan, Democratisation in Turkey: The Role of Political Parties, Brussels: P.I.E.-Peter Lang, 2004. Comparative studies on regime changes in Southern Europe and Latin America have shown the central role that stable and strong party systems play in the consolidation of democracy. Although Turkish political parties and the party system have received considerable scholarly attention, their impact on the country’s democratization process has not been systematically examined. Huri Tursan’s book seeks to fill this gap in the literature on contemporary Turkish politics. A modified version of the author’s doctoral dissertation written at the European University Institute in Florence, the study describes the historical evolution of political parties, with particular focus on developments concerning party politics since Turkey’s transition from an authoritarian one-party regime to a multi-party system in the late 1940s. The bulk of the book analyzes the changing electoral fortunes of the individual parties over the past five decades, the impact of the breakdowns of democracy through military interventions in 1960, 1971, and 1980 on party competition, and trends in the party system over the years. The analysis of the changes in the party system concerning volatility, fragmentation, and polarization constitute the book’s main empirical contribution. The picture that emerges from Hursan’s study is that of a party system which lacks strong and cohesive parties and which has experienced protracted periods of instability amidst recurring political and economic crises. In particular, military interventions in politics have disrupted party continuity and organizational development. The book’s central argument is that despite the relatively long trajectory of political parties and elections, Turkey has failed to make the transition from an electoral democracy to a fully