How to Fight Turkey’s Authoritarian Turn
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6288318 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Berk Esen (0000-0002-6759-8903), Sebnem Gumuscu (0000-0002-9180-421X) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 106-120 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of democracy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1045-5736 • E-ISSN: 1086-3214 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/jod.2025.a964568 |
| OpenAlex | W4411964171 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 11 |
The arrest of Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, marks the latest turn in Turkey’s prolonged autocratization process, signaling a possible shift from competitive to the hegemonic authoritarianism of Russia and Venezuela. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s regime intends to consolidate more power and weaken the ever-growing opposition using partisan courts and media. However, Erdoğan’s increasingly authoritarian regime may soon reach its material and coercive limits, inhibiting Turkey’s transition to hegemonic authoritarianism. Moreover, Turkey’s strong electoral traditions, diverse society, and popular resistance mobilized by the opposition render such a transition improbable. The Turkish case thus demonstrates how structural factors and political agency, in tandem, shape the prospects of deepening autocratization and re-democratization
Authoritarianism · Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Law · Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics · Turkey's Politics and Society
The puzzle of exceptionalism
Safeguarding the epistemic sphere
Science attacks in context of democratic backsliding
Whose Kulturkampf? Asymmetric cleavage mobilisation and the 2023 Turkish elections
The ambivalent meanings of feeling at home
Keep positive and defend democracy
Rhetorical strategies and electoral legitimacy in foreign policymaking within competitive authoritarianism
Strategic dualism
Pathways of Democratic Backsliding, Resistance, and (Partial) Recoveries
Party (de)institutionalization in times of political uncertainty
The Authoritarian Resurgence
International Linkage and Democratization
The Surprising Instability of Competitive Authoritarianism
How democracies prevail
Building Support From Below? Subnational Elections, Diffusion Effects, and the Growth of the Opposition in Mexico, 1984-2000
Authoritarian Institutions and the Survival of Autocrats
What Do We Know About Democratization After Twenty Years
When you come at the king
Regime Legacies and Levels of Democracy
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 8 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |