Foreign Policy as a Source of Legitimation for “Competitive Authoritarian Regimes”: The Case of Turkey’s AKP

Abstract

Turkey’s ruling party, AKP, has used foreign policy as one of its primary instruments for consolidating domestic political support and monopolizing power in the hands of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Defiance of Western hegemony and references to the imperial Ottoman past have helped to replace Kemalist narratives and to override growing social divides within the country. As a result, Erdogan’s hold on power is strengthened, since the AKP’s political contestation has been almost exclusively limited to elections.