How Turkey’s slide to authoritarianism defies modernization theory

Abstract

ABSTRACTTurkey’s current slide to authoritarianism creates a puzzle for democratization theory, as it challenges the commonly accepted relationship between wealth and democracy. There is a large consensus in the democratization literature that a robust civil society, a growing middle class, and high GDP per capita create a conducive environment for an authoritarian country to democratize and make it harder for democratic countries to turn authoritarian. Prominent scholars of Turkish politics used these arguments when conceptualizing Turkey’s liberalization and the checkered democratization process in the post-1980 period. Yet, despite positive economic growth, a flourishing civil society, and a rising middle class, Turkey drifted toward a competitive authoritarian regime during the past five years. The article addresses this puzzle and discusses how the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) co-opted Islamic civil society organizations and attached conservative businessmen to the state through crony-relations, thereby stripping these societal forces from their democratizing qualities.