Elections and Democracy in Turkey: Reconsidering Competitive Authoritarianism in the Age of Democratic Backsliding

This article reflects on the reasons why Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) could still win in the recent 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey despite, among other daunting issues, the deep economic crisis and their unsuccessful handling of the February 2023 earth...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Political quarterly (London. 1930) 2023-07, Vol.94 (3), p.445-451
Main Author: Ugur‐Cinar, Meral
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Authoritarianism
Candidates
Democracy
Economic crisis
Election results
Erdogan, Recep Tayyip
Mass media effects
Natural disasters
Parliamentary elections
Refugees
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Summary:This article reflects on the reasons why Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) could still win in the recent 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey despite, among other daunting issues, the deep economic crisis and their unsuccessful handling of the February 2023 earthquake. The article discusses the role of state apparatus and the media under a neopatrimonial system, as well as the role of the EU, which turned Turkey into a rentier state with the refugee deals. The discussion considers whether Turkey could still be seen as a competitive authoritarian regime and points to the difficulties in determining whether regimes such as the Turkish one are competitive authoritarian or not until the election results are seen and the opposition candidates actually win.
ISSN:0032-3179
1467-923X
DOI:10.1111/1467-923X.13309