AKP’s neoliberal populism and contradictions of new social policies in Turkey

Özdemir, Yonca

doi:10.1080/13569775.2020.1720891

Cited by 27 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…In the countryside, the rural population also benefited from the reintroduction of agricultural subsidies, expansion of social assistance, and rapid infrastructural development (Gürel et al, 2019;Özdemir, 2020). Together with neoliberal reforms, social assistance distributed by the state rose from 0.3% of the GDP in 2002 to 1.4% in 2014.…”

Section: Economic Foundations Of Akp Hegemonymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Together with neoliberal reforms, social assistance distributed by the state rose from 0.3% of the GDP in 2002 to 1.4% in 2014. Consequently, something unusual happened during the first decade of the AKP's neoliberal era: Income inequality and poverty rates decreased (see Figures 3 and 4; also see Özdemir, 2020;Bahçe & Köse, 2017;Karatas ¸lı, 2015;Tu gal, 2016).…”

Section: Economic Foundations Of Akp Hegemonymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The AKP's neoliberalism was not a replica of the neoliberal models implemented in the Global North because it simultaneously expanded many welfare and social assistance programmes (Figure 2). AKP's neoliberalism took place together with aid for the poor, free public services, and direct cash transfers to the urban and rural poor (Bahçe & Köse, 2017; Kumral, 2022; Özdemir, 2020). During the AKP era, the social security system was reformed so that it included the precariously and informally employed and unemployed sections of the society (Özdemir, 2020, p. 253).…”

Section: The Right‐wing Populist Ruling Bloc In Turkey In the 21st Ce...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…AKP's neoliberalism took place together with aid for the poor, free public services, and direct cash transfers to the urban and rural poor (Bahçe & Köse, 2017; Kumral, 2022; Özdemir, 2020). During the AKP era, the social security system was reformed so that it included the precariously and informally employed and unemployed sections of the society (Özdemir, 2020, p. 253). In the countryside, the rural population also benefited from the reintroduction of agricultural subsidies, expansion of social assistance, and rapid infrastructural development (Gürel et al, 2019; Özdemir, 2020).…”

Section: The Right‐wing Populist Ruling Bloc In Turkey In the 21st Ce...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Crisis of capitalism and cycles of right‐wing populism in contemporary Turkey: The making and unmaking of Erdoğanist hegemony

Karatasli

Kumral

2022

Journal of Agrarian Change

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This paper analyses the right‐wing populist rule of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) in Turkey, focusing on the crisis of capitalism, emerging discontent in the rural populations, and opportunities for and obstacles to a successful left‐wing populist mobilisation. We put forward three arguments. First, through an examination of the historical evolution, class‐based and social‐demographic foundations of the ruling right‐wing populist alliance between the AKP and the Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (MHP), we argue that the MHP is a more classical case of far‐right populism, whereas the AKP is a “heterodox” case that borrows several elements from the left. These “heterodox” features of the AKP, together with the interlinked crisis of the 1990s, played a significant part in the support the AKP received from the subordinate majority. Second, we argue that the success of the AKP's hegemonic right‐wing populism from 2002 to 2013 was linked to an unusually favourable macro‐political‐economic climate that helped the AKP counterbalance its neoliberal policies with pragmatic social assistance programmes. However, together with the disappearance of this macro‐political‐economic climate in the second decade of its rule (2013‐present), the disastrous consequences of the AKP's neoliberal policies became more explicit, and the AKP's populism moved from a hegemonic to an authoritarian right‐wing populist type. Third, we claim that today, due to the deepening of the current economic crisis (further exacerbated by the Covid19 pandemic), the AKP's cross‐class alliance began to break down, and the rural movements in the Turkish countryside have been playing a major role in unmaking the AKP's hegemony. However, in the absence of a strong left‐wing populist movement with a stronghold in the Turkish countryside, emergent possibilities for a radical progressive transformation are not utilised. Instead, the groundwork is being laid for another wave of right‐wing populism.

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Section: Economic Foundations Of Akp Hegemonymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Economic Foundations Of Akp Hegemonymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Right‐wing Populist Ruling Bloc In Turkey In the 21st Ce...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Right‐wing Populist Ruling Bloc In Turkey In the 21st Ce...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Crisis of capitalism and cycles of right‐wing populism in contemporary Turkey: The making and unmaking of Erdoğanist hegemony

Karatasli

Kumral

2022

Journal of Agrarian Change

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“…Only in the Turkish case can nonstate actors be involved in the CCT administration, exemplifying a path-dependent legacy regarding the Turkish (and Ottoman) state’s reliance on privatized, charity-based welfare (Özbek 2006). The opaque nature of private contributions (at both national and district levels) and the list of beneficiaries subject the system to probable clientelistic exchanges/patronage networks between firms or individuals (philanthropists included in the SASF boards) and municipalities or the central government (Özdemir 2020).…”

Section: Varieties Of Regulatory Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Varieties of Regulatory Welfare Regimes in Middle-Income Countries: A Comparative Analysis of Brazil, Mexico, and Turkey

Özel¹,

Parrado²

2020

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Scie

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The expansion of social welfare regimes in middle-income countries (MICs) has become a global trend that has involved the adaption of robust social assistance programs aiming to alleviate poverty and diminish inequalities. We analyze conditional cash transfers in Brazil, Mexico, and Turkey, identifying the types of regulatory regimes that exist in each, namely “loose decentralism” in Brazil, “strict centralism” in Mexico, and “subcontracted dirigisme” in Turkey. We argue that regulatory design is key to understanding how the newly flourishing welfare regimes can control political manipulation, and that where manipulation occurs, social assistance programs can deviate from their initial objectives and endanger the welfare of the poor and hazard trust in the government and political institutions. However, when social welfare regimes work in line with their objectives and eschew political discretion, regulatory welfare states can enhance trust in and legitimacy of political institutions. Our analysis indicates that a centrally regulated social assistance governance nurtured by local knowledge is key to avoiding political manipulation and to alleviating poverty, major issues in MICs.

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Crisis Populism: The Thick Ideological Core of Populist Politics in Turkey

Frahm,

Lehmkuhl

2023

The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication

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AKP’s neoliberal populism and contradictions of new social policies in Turkey

Cited by 27 publications

References 61 publications

Crisis of capitalism and cycles of right‐wing populism in contemporary Turkey: The making and unmaking of Erdoğanist hegemony

Crisis of capitalism and cycles of right‐wing populism in contemporary Turkey: The making and unmaking of Erdoğanist hegemony

Varieties of Regulatory Welfare Regimes in Middle-Income Countries: A Comparative Analysis of Brazil, Mexico, and Turkey

Crisis Populism: The Thick Ideological Core of Populist Politics in Turkey

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