Why Do Populist Governments Change Their Policies: Evidence from Turkey

Abstract

This paper highlights the changing populist character of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi or AKP) since it captured power in 2002. It posits that the AKP’s dominant form of populism has changed from being “inclusionary” to “exclusionary” over time. More specifically, the AKP leadership initially adopted inclusionary populism to overcome the threat of party closure and extend its voter base. As the economic downturn began to shrink clientelist resources from the second term onwards, however, the AKP has shifted towards exclusionary populism that was based on the extension of polarization along religious and ethnic lines. Such transition well overlaps with the authoritarian transition in recent years.