Regime Change under the Party of Justice and Development (AKP) in Turkey

Abstract

This chapter examines Turkey’s transition to an authoritarian regime under the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party—AKP). Turkey’s regime transition reflects the broader pattern of “executive aggrandizement,” whereby the accountability of elected governments is progressively eroded. Turkey’s regime has slid gradually from an illiberal democracy constrained by the power of the military to an authoritarian regime in which the president monopolizes political power. The political, economic, and institutional contexts in which elections take place are heavily skewed in favor of the incumbents, and the ballot box serves to legitimize the government rather than holding it accountable. The chapter surveys the primary factors that have influenced the process of regime change. In particular, it focuses on the role of persistent electoral victories early in the AKP’s tenure in government, the marginalization of Erdoğan’s rivals within the AKP, the creation of a pro-government business class that controls the media landscape, the role of social welfare practices, and the party’s capture of judicial and security bureaucracies. While Islamic social movements like the Gülen community, as well as the AKP’s Islamist identity, played a role in regime change, religion’s impact on authoritarian transition was minimal. Studying the process of democratic backsliding in Turkey, a Muslim-majority state, illuminates crucial mechanisms of democratic breakdown and authoritarian regime consolidation more broadly.