The political economy of Turkey Wealth Fund: a case study within the state-business relations in Turkey

Abstract

This thesis aims to explain the reason for the establishment of the Turkey Wealth Fund. It represents an outlier case within the recent global phenomenon of sovereign wealth funds due to being established even though Turkey does not have trade or budget surplus which are considered as the minimum criteria for establishing and financing a sovereign wealth fund. Searching the answer in Turkish domestic politics, the paper argues that Turkey Wealth Fund is established as a new instrument to be used in the selective resource distribution which the government systematized to sustain the state-business relations within the political transformation of Turkey to competitive authoritarianism under the Justice and Development Party. It is one of the tools in economy that employed as a way of legitimization and concealment of the distribution of resources since it provides further discretion. Its foundation alone summarizes the systematization of the erosion of the rule of law and the reinforcement of the President Erdoğan‟s political dominance.