Building a competitive authoritarian regime: state-business relations in the AKP’s Turkey

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buir.contributor.authorEsen, Berk
dc.citation.epage372en_US
dc.citation.issueNumber4en_US
dc.citation.spage349en_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber20en_US
dc.contributor.authorEsen, Berken_US
dc.contributor.authorGümüşçü, S.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2019-02-21T16:03:27Z
dc.date.available2019-02-21T16:03:27Z
dc.date.issued2017-11en_US
dc.departmentDepartment of International Relationsen_US
dc.description.abstractThe most recent global wave of democratic reversal is marked by executive takeovers. Politically motivated interventions in domestic markets aimed at restructuring the underlying power dynamics in society have been part and parcel of these takeovers. This article investigates the new political economy behind the AKP’s competitive authoritarian rule in Turkey as an example of this larger trend. The article argues that the AKP government has built a loyal business class through an elaborate system of rewards and punishment since 2002. With the aim of consolidating its business constituency, the AKP politicized state institutions (debt collection, tax authorities, privatization, public procurement) and eroded the rule of law to distribute rents and resources to its supporters, transfer capital from its opponents to its supporters, and to discipline dissidents in business circles. These mechanisms allowed the party to skew the political playing field in its favour through its access to private resources as well as its disproportionate access to the media—built by pro-AKP businessmen—and thus underpinned the AKP’s competitive authoritarian regime.
dc.description.sponsorshipSpecial thanks are due to Mesut Kılıç for his valuable research assistance. We would also like to thank Karabekir Akkoyunlu, Nancy Bermeo, Tim Dorlach, Samuel Greene, Nora Fisher Onar, Kerem Öktem, Ziya Öniş, Osman Savaşkan, Feryaz Ocaklı, Kıvanç Özvardar, Andreas Schedler, and participants at the interdisciplinary workshop on the ‘Political Economy of Contemporary Turkey’ (30‒31 July 2015), the inaugural symposium ‘Consortium of European Symposia on Turkey’ (1‒3 October 2015) and the ‘Rise of Competitive Electoral Authoritarian Regimes’ panel at APSA 2015. We are grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions.
dc.identifier.doi10.1080/19448953.2018.1385924
dc.identifier.eissn1944-8961en_US
dc.identifier.issn1944-8953
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11693/50107
dc.language.isoEnglish
dc.publisherRoutledge
dc.relation.isversionofhttps://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2018.1385924
dc.relation.projectAmerican Political Science Association, APSA
dc.source.titleJournal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studiesen_US
dc.titleBuilding a competitive authoritarian regime: state-business relations in the AKP’s Turkeyen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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