State and Labour under AKP Rule in Turkey: An Appraisal

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe political Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party) has been in power in Turkey since the November 2002 elections. This era brought about significant changes and transformations in many aspects of state‒society and state‒economy relations. However, as far as the state’s management of labour power is considered, the era represented a direct continuity with the post-1980 authoritarian neoliberal restructuring. The party’s policies aimed to make the labour market more competitive, flexible, low-waged, precarious and de-unionized. Economic policies in this term also increased the indebtedness of labourers as a result of the detrimental developments in the labour markets for workers. The AKP also did not hesitate to use state power whenever possible in order to suppress workers’ discontent and strikes. However, the party also enjoyed a considerable amount of working class support as a result of the ‘neoliberal social policy regime’ which attempted to alleviate the detrimental effects in the labour market. Against this background, this article attempts to develop a critical appraisal of state‒labour relations and general trends thereof, and make sense of developments in the labour market during the AKP era.