When: May 2, 12:00-13:15
Where: CMES (Finngatan 16) and on Zoom
To join the book launch via Zoom, please use this link: https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/63087926184
This book offers new clarity on three important political concepts: authoritarianism, neoliberalism, and resistance. While debates on authoritarian resurgence have been limited to the examination of political factors (e.g., polarisation, conflict) until recently, the rising literature on ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’ highlights how the neoliberal restructuring of political economy bolsters the authoritarian tendencies of elected governments both in the Global South and the Global North. This book will be an invaluable resource not only to scholars of Turkey and the Middle East but also to researchers into authoritarianism and neoliberalism around the world.
These well-researched articles draw a striking and timely picture, at the ground level, of a regime that has become a conduit for plunder and dispossession. The authors describe an arena where authoritarian repression of criticism and opposition has grown, but resistance has also been mounting. The unique focus on resistance of this excellent collection injects a much-needed note of optimism into the literature.
– Çağlar Keyder, Professor of Sociology, State University of New York, Binghamton
During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP), Turkey was seen as a burgeoning democratic power propped up by economic prosperity in line with the reforms for European Union (EU) accession and International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionality. However, 20 years later, it is considered an emblematic case of democratic backsliding in line with rising poverty and inequalities that have been amplified as a result of sweeping neoliberal reforms and authoritarian consolidation in the country. The recent literature has identified these concomitant and complementary modes of authoritarian governance and neoliberal policies in Turkey as ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’. The book discusses the dynamics of consolidation of authoritarian neoliberalism in Turkey as well as the acts of contention against it. Building mainly on the eight case studies presented in this volume, we put forward a framework that explains the consolidation of authoritarian neoliberalism in Turkey through the mechanisms of executive centralisation, autocratic legalism, cronyism, violence-fuelled rentier accumulation, criminalisation and stigmatisation, and contestations against authoritarian neoliberalism through strikes, protests, demonstrations, network building, litigation, everyday struggles, and armed acts of contention.
Presenters:
Dr İmren Borsuk is an Einstein Research Fellow at the Center for Comparative Research on Democracy at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.
Dr Pınar Dinç is a Researcher at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, and an Associate Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.
Dr Sinem Kavak is a Research Affiliate at Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.
