Youth branches of political parties as a battle ground: The youth branch of the AKP and youth in the “Nationalist Action Party”; the gray wolves’ households

In this study, membership processes in political parties towards young people and specific positions of youth inside the party space are examined within the framework of concepts such as space, apparatus, habitus, capital, and illusio introduced by Bourdieu through an analysis of interviews conducted with young people who have management responsibilities in the AKP youth branches and MHP Grey Wolves. In this framework youth branches are taken to be a sub-space, especially a site for struggle, where the actors take action with their diverse capital accumulations. Throughout the article the dispossession of the youth in politics is addressed through issues such as relationship of the branches with the main party structure, intra-party representation mechanisms and democracy, and perception of the leader.