Abstract
This chapter analyses how the Turkish government’s populist policies and discourses have evolved over time as the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi = AKP) has been losing popular support. Specifically, it looks at whether the Turkish government changed course or persisted across several subfields of politics: cultural, economic, immigration and foreign policy. Despite substantial changes in approaches to economic and foreign policy, there are other core areas of populist policies that have remained unchanged throughout the crisis. The reason for this remarkable level of persistence in the face of declining popularity is, we argue, the fact that these areas denote not only the core of the AKP’s message but also of the party’s and its leaders’ core ideological belief system. This empirical finding points to a wider need to reorient the debate over whether populists are thin ideologues that readily adapt their policy offerings to public sentiments. The analysis of how populist discourses evolved in the case of Turkey adds empirical weight to the claim that there is a certain thickness in populists’ ideology. This in turn may explain why populist parties in decline stick to some of their approaches even when their impact on popularity diminishes.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akkoyunlu, K., & Öktem, K. (2016). Existential insecurity and the making of a weak authoritarian regime in Turkey. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 16(4), 505–527.
Ant, O. & Yilmaz, U. (2022). What Erdogan’s Unusual Economic Ideas Mean for Turkey, Washington Post, 27 September, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-erdogans-unusual-economic-ideas-mean-for-turkey/2022/09/23/9c5e8374-3b3d-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html (accessed 28 January 2023).
Aras, B., & Gorener, A. (2010). National role conceptions and foreign policy orientation: the ideational bases of the Justice and Development Party’s foreign policy activism in the Middle East. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 12(1), 73–92.
Askew, J. (2022). Soaring inflation and a collapsing currency: Why is Turkey’s economy in such a mess?, Euronews, 5 October, https://www.euronews.com/2022/10/05/everything-is-overheating-why-is-turkeys-economy-in-such-a-mess (accessed 28 January 2023).
Arat-Koç, S. (2018). Culturalizing politics, hyper-politicizing ‘culture’: ‘White’ vs. ‘Black Turks’ and the making of authoritarian populism in Turkey, Dialectical Anthropology 42:4, 391–408.
Aydemir, N. (2022). Framing Syrian refugees in Turkish politics: a qualitative analysis on party group speeches. Territory.
Aydin, M., Çelikpala, M., Canan-Sokullu, E., Güvenç, M., Ergun, A., Baybars Hawks, B., Yıldırım, K., & Kaya-Sönmez, S. (2023). Quantitative research report: Turkey trends 2022. Global Academy and Akademetre.
Aytaç, S. E., & Elçi, E. (2019). Populism in Turkey. In D. Stockemer (Ed.), Populism around the world (pp. 89–108). Springer.
Başkan, F., Bengi Gümrükçü, S., & Orkunt Canyaş, F. (2022). Forming pre-electoral coalitions in competitive authoritarian contexts: The case of the 2018 parliamentary elections in Turkey. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 24(2), 323–343.
BBC News Türkҫe (2022). Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan: Ülkemize sığınan Suriyelileri asla kovmayacağız, 9 May, https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-turkiye-61381855 (accessed 28 January 2023).
Bodur, Ü. M., & Arikan, H. (2021). Europeanization and De-Europeanization of Turkey’s gender equality policy: The case of the Istanbul Convention. Journal of Common Market Studies, 60(4), 945–962.
Bonikowski, B. (2016). Three lessons of contemporary populism in Europe and the United States. Brown Journal of World Affairs, 23(1), 9–24.
Caiani, M., & Graziano, P. (2019). Understanding varieties of populism in times of crises. West European Politics, 42(6), 1141–1158.
Canovan, M. (2002). Taking politics to the people: Populism as the ideology of democracy. In Y. Mény & Y. Surel (Eds.), Democracies and the populist challenge (pp. 25–44). Palgrave Macmillan.
Çinar, M., & Sayin, Ç. (2014). Reproducing the paradigm of democracy in Turkey: Parochial democratization in the decade of Justice and Development Party. Turkish Studies, 15(3), 365–385.
Chulov, M. (2022). Turkey’s rapprochement with Syria leaves regional refugees fearful, The Guardian, 23 August, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/23/turkeys-rapprochement-with-syria-leaves-regional-refugees-fearful (accessed 28 January 2023).
Dawi, A. (2023). After Earthquake, Some Syrian War Refugees Look Beyond Turkey, Voice of America, 22 February, https://www.voanews.com/a/after-earthquake-some-syrian-war-refugees-look-beyond-turkey-/6974321.html (accessed 28 January 2023).
Destradi, S., & Plagemann, J. (2019). Populism and International Relations: (Un)predictability, personalisation, and the reinforcement of existing trends in world politics. Review of International Studies, 45(5), 711–730.
Esen, B. (2022). Post-2023 election scenarios in Turkey. SWP Comment No. 55.
Esen, B., & Gumuscu, S. (2017). Turkey: How the coup failed. Journal of Democracy, 28(1), 59–73.
Frahm, O., & Lehmkuhl, D. (2021). Populist Neo-imperialism: a new take on populist foreign policy. In M. Oswald (Ed.), The Palgrave handbook of populism (pp. 527–541). Palgrave Macmillan.
Freeden, M. (2017). After the Brexit referendum: Revisiting populism as an ideology. Journal of Political Ideologies, 22(1), 1–11.
Göksel, O. (2019). Foreign policy making in the age of populism: The uses of anti-Westernism in Turkish politics. New Middle Eastern Studies, 9(1), 13–35.
Hadiz, V. R., & Chryssogelos, A. (2017). Populism in world politics: A comparative cross-regional perspective. International Political Science Review, 38(4), 399–411.
Jungkunz, S., Fahey, R. A., & Hino, A. (2021). How populist attitudes scales fail to capture support for populists in power. PloS One, 16, 12.
Kaliber, A., & Kaliber, E. (2019). From De-Europeanisation to anti-Western populism: Turkish foreign policy in flux. International Spectator, 15(4), 1–16.
Kaltwasser, C. R., & Taggart, P. (2016). Dealing with populists in government. Democratization, 23(2), 201–220.
Kaltwasser, C. R., Taggart, P., Ochoa Espejo, P., & Ostiguy, P. (2017). Populism: An overview of the concept and the state of the art. In C. R. Kaltwasser, P. Taggart, P. Ochoa Espejo, & P. Ostiguy (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of populism (pp. 1–27). Oxford University Press.
Kaya, A., Max-Valentin, R., & Tecmen, A. (2020). Populism in Turkey and France: Nativism, multiculturalism and Euroskepticism. Turkish Studies, 21(3), 361–391.
Ketola, M., & Odmalm, P. (this volume). The end of the world is always better in theory: The strained relationship between populist radical right parties and the state-of-crisis narrative. In C. Lacatus, G. Löfflmann, & G. Meibauer (Eds.), Populism, political communication and performative leadership in international politics. Palgrave Macmillan.
Keyman, E. F. (2014). The AK party: Dominant party, new Turkey and polarization. Insight Turkey, 16(3), 19–31.
Lacatus, C., & Meibauer, G. (2021). Crisis, rhetoric and right-wing populist incumbency: An analysis of Donald Trump’s tweets and press briefings. Government and Opposition, 1–19.
Lange, N. (2021). Neue nationalistische Partei in der Türkei: Zafer Partisi – Partei des Sieges? Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
Mudde, C. (2007). Populist radical right parties in Europe. Cambridge University Press.
Müller, J.-W. (2017). What is populism? University of Pennsylvania Press.
Öniş, Z. (2019). Turkey under the challenge of state capitalism: the political economy of the late AKP era. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 19(2), 201–225.
Ostiguy, P. (2020). The socio-cultural, relational approach to populism. Partecipazione e Conflitto, 13(1), 29–58.
Özbudun, E. (2006). From political Islam to conservative democracy. South European Society and Politics, 11(3–4), 543–557.
Özdemir, Y. (2020). AKP’s neoliberal populism and contradictions of new social policies in Turkey. Contemporary Politics, 26(3), 245–267.
Özel, I. D., & Yıldırım, K. (2019). Political consequences of welfare regimes: Social assistance and support for presidentialism in Turkey. South European Society and Politics, 24(4), 485–511.
Pappas, T. S. (2019). Populists in power. Journal of Democracy, 30(2), 70–84.
Polat, R. K. (2018). Religious solidarity, historical mission and moral superiority: Construction of external and internal ‘others’ in AKP’s discourses on Syrian refugees in Turkey. Critical Discourse Studies, 15(5), 500–516.
Roche, J. T. (2021). The appropriation and weaponisation of the crusades in the modern era. International Journal of Military History and Historiography, 41(2), 187–207.
Selçuk, O. (2016). Strong presidents and weak institutions: Populism in Turkey, Venezuela and Ecuador. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 16(4), 571–589.
SonDakika (2022). CHP Genel Başkanı Kılıçdaroğlu: “Ey dünya, insanımız senin ucuz iş gücün değildir”, 29 November, https://www.sondakika.com/politika/haber-chp-genel-baskani-kilicdaroglu-ey-dunya-insanimiz-15461269/ (accessed 28 January 2023).
Sorek, A. Y., Haglin, K., & Geva, N. (2018). In capable hands: An experimental study of the effects of competence and consistency on leadership approval. Political Behaviour, 40, 659–679.
Sözcü (2014). Erdoğan’dan balkon konuşması, 11 August, https://www.sozcu.com.tr/2014/gunun-icinden/erdogandan-balkon-konusmasi-574975/ (accessed 28 January 2023) (my translation).
Taggart, P. (2000). Populism. Open University Press.
Taş, H. (2018). Contained uncertainty: Turkey’s June 2018 elections and their consequences. GIGA Focus Nahost, No. 4. GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
Taş, H. (2022). The chronopolitics of national populism. Identities, 29(2), 127–145.
Uzer, U. (2018). Glorification of the past as a political tool: Ottoman history in contemporary Turkish politics. The Journal of the Middle East and Africa, 9(4), 339–357.
Weyland, K. (2001). Clarifying a contested concept: Populism in the study of Latin American politics. Comparative Politics, 34(1), 1–22.
Yabanci, B. (2016). Populism as the problem child of democracy: The AKP’s enduring appeal and the use of meso-level actors. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 16(4), 591–617.
Yanaşmayan, Z., Ayşen, Ü., & Kaşlı, Z. (2019). Under the Shadow of Civilizationist Populist discourses. New Diversities, 21(2), 37–51.
Yardımcı-Geyikҫi, Ş., & Yavuzyilmaz, H. (2022). Party (de)institutionalization in times of political uncertainty: The case of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey. Party Politics, 28(1), 71–84.
Yeni Akit. (2021). Faiz, Allah’a savaş açmaktır, 20 November, https://www.yeniakit.com.tr/haber/faiz-allaha-savas-acmaktir-1597510.html (accessed 28 January 2023).
Zengin, H., & Ongur, H. O. (2020). How sovereign is a populist? The nexus between populism and political economy of the AKP. Turkish Studies, 21(4), 578–595.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge a research grant by the Centre for Governance and Culture in Europe at the University of St Gallen.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Frahm, O., Lehmkuhl, D. (2023). Crisis Populism: The Thick Ideological Core of Populist Politics in Turkey. In: Lacatus, C., Meibauer, G., Löfflmann, G. (eds) Political Communication and Performative Leadership. The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41640-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41640-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-41639-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-41640-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)