Bengisu Savran
Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan's authoritarian AKP has governed Turkey for more than twenty years. The regime has consistently rolled back gender rights. Despite this, many women continue to vote for it. Why? Bengisu Savran suggests clientelism and welfare benefits may provide the answer Read more
Hazal Atay
Turkey is a textbook example of gender backlash. Hazal Atay explains the structure and strategies employed by the anti-gender movement in Turkey Read more
Saskia Brechenmacher
Saskia Brechenmacher, Erin Jones, and Özge Zihnioğlu write that gender is critical to understanding popular resistance against democratic erosion and autocratic hardening around the world Read more
Raquel Santos Fernandes
The less democratic the political regime, the more asymmetrical gender relations become. Raquel Santos Fernandes terms this phenomenon ‘gendering de-democratisation’. Based on data from Turkey, she explains how the process increasingly excludes women, and limits their experiences of citizenship in politics, in the economy, and in their intimate lives Read more
Didem Unal Abaday
In Turkey, LGBTI+ events and pressures on queer people’s right to assembly face increasing restrictions. This, writes Didem Unal Abaday, will only get worse with democratic decline. In the new parliamentary term after the 2023 elections, democratic backsliding is turning political homophobia into state policy Read more
ErdoÄŸan Altun
In the first round of the Turkish elections on 14 May, the incumbent AKP, led by President ErdoÄŸan, won a narrow victory. This was a crushing blow for the opposition, who had pinned their hopes on Turkey's economic crisis, and crippling inflation, ending ErdoÄŸan's authority. ErdoÄŸan Altun explains how the AKP's electoral campaign, patronage and social assistance were crucial to its success Read more
Görkem Altınörs
Görkem Altınörs and Ümit Akçay analyse the political economy of regime change in Turkey. The AKP's 'authoritarian fix' strategy was a response to multiple crises in the 2010s. Now, it has led to an attempt at authoritarian consolidation Read more
Ziya Öniş
In recent years, Turkish foreign policy has oscillated between traditional alignments with the West, and a new Eastern orientation. Partnerships with Russia and China are becoming increasingly important, write Ziya Öniş and Mustafa Kutlay. Yet Turkey must be firmly anchored to the club of democratic states to regain its benign regional and global role Read more
The Loop
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