Neoliberal developmentalism, authoritarian populism, and extractivism in the countryside

The Soma mining disaster in Turkey

Bibliographic Data

ID2157447
AuthorsFikret Adaman (0000-0003-3216-7684, Department of Economics, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey), Murat Arsel (0000-0001-9625-1426, International Institute of Social Studies, corresponding author), Bengi Akbulut (0000-0002-6156-1632, Concordia University)
Year2019
Volume46
Issue3
Pages514-536
Publication date2019-04-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Peasant Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0306-6150 • E-ISSN: 1743-9361
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03066150.2018.1515737
OpenAlexW2898093327
LanguageEN
Citations received53
References cited26

While state-society relations in Turkey have historically been top-down and coups d'état periodically interrupted democratic politics, the recent authoritarian turn under Erdoğan is remarkable. Two dynamics are especially salient. First, Erdoğan and his AKP have been particularly effective in deepening the neoliberalisation of economy and society. Their policies have created a new form of neoliberal developmentalism, where solutions to all social ills have come to be seen as possible through rapid economic growth. Second, they have intensified the transformation of the countryside, where new forms of dispossession and deagrarianisation open the way to an unprecedented extractivist drive. Together, neoliberal developmentalism and extractivism have resulted in growing social dissent. The eruption of anger after the Soma coal mining disaster that killed 301 miners is one such case. The paper shows how Erdoğan and the AKP use populist tactics (ranging from an uptick in nationalist discourse to the provision of 'coal aid' in winter) to assuage their critics. Where these prove inadequate, an increasingly violent crackdown on social dissent is being deployed in the name of peace and order as the country remains in a state of emergency since the attempted coup of July 2016

Authoritarianism · Democracy · Development economics · Developmentalism · Dissent · Economics · Economy · Nationalism · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Social movement · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Mining and Resource Management · Turkey's Politics and Society · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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