Performing nationalist populism in Turkey: an exploration of anti-Western, anti-elite and Muslim conservative undercurrents

Abstract

ABSTRACT The growing body of research on populism has recently turned its attention towards global populisms, populist leaders and their political communication strategies. This article introduces a non-western perspective to the literature which has generally been dominated by European, Latin American and more recently North American contexts. The article analyses nationalist populism in Turkey as performed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan – the country’s ruling leader for the past eighteen years. Through a discussion of Erdogan’s mediated public performances and encounters with ‘the people,’ the article reveals the ideological components and manifestations of right-wing nationalist populism in a Muslim-majority country. Focusing on how and why Erdogan and his associates portray themselves as the true representatives of ‘the people’ and ‘the nation,’ the article argues that the articulations of anti-elitism and nativism in the Turkish context are primarily driven by anti-western and Islamist sentiments.