Turkey’s democratic resilience under populist authoritarian rule

After almost two decades of rule by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its leader President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has experienced major institutional, political, and social transformations. While the AKP’s early years were marked by democratic reforms and socio-economic achievements, the country has undergone dramatic autocratization in the party’s second decade of rule. The AKP and its leader have monopolized power, undermined democratic institutions, suppressed civil society and dissent, and committed violations of freedom of expression. In recent years, an expanding body of research and analysis has argued that Turkey is shifting toward authoritarianism and underlined the dismantling of democratic checks and balances in the country. Although these analyses are useful in taking a screenshot of what has been going on, there is another side to the story, one that still gives us hope for the re-establishment of democracy and the rule of law in the near future.

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Πηγή: mei.edu