Turkey under the challenge of state capitalism: the political economy of the late AKP era

Abstract

The paper considers the broad economic and political shifts in Turkey in the AKP’s post-2011 phase. The ‘reactive state’ model developed to understand Turkey’s political economic transitions is relevant to the new era of ‘developmentalism’ with authoritarian features. Global shifts coupled with important domestic political shifts are at the heart of the new developmental trajectory. The growing importance of the Russia–China axis, with the relative decline of the West, has been making a key impact in filling the vacuum in the European periphery. Turkish experience is a striking illustration of this broader tendency. Comparative historical experience is utilized to understand the key features of the new era in Turkey. Comparisons are made with the early AKP era and attention is drawn to broad parallels with Russian development experience since early 1990s. A key element here is the process of ‘extensive’ growth, based on different resource configurations. Land and construction activities constitute a key engine in the Turkish context, contrary to the dominant role of oil and gas in Russia. Finally, the paper probes into challenges of sustainability which raise questions concerning the AKP’s extraordinary durability as a hegemonic force in Turkish politics over the past 16 years.