Book Review by Ivo Furman

Bilge Yesil. Media in New Turkey: The Origins of an Authoritarian Neoliberal State. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016. 230 pp. $28.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-252-08165-1.

Reviewed by Ivo Furman (Bilgi University)
Published on H-Nationalism (September, 2019)
Commissioned by Caner Tekin (Postdoctoral Researcher)

Starting with the landslide election victory of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) in 2002 and continuing well into the mid-2010s, Turkey was long portrayed in the West as a model for Middle Eastern countries, with its moderate Muslim outlook, EU membership candidacy, and integration with global capitalism. Yet, soon after the harsh government response to the Gezi protests of 2013, the illusionary allure of the AKP’s “Turkish model” began to wane. As successive AKP governments adopt increasingly authoritarian and hardline policies, the “Turkish model” has almost entirely lost its allure as a model of democratization.[1] Instead, as the AKP strengthens its grip on the levers of power, we are witnessing the emergence of a form of governance that has been described as competitive authoritarianism[2] or as a weak authoritarian regime.[3] This emerging regime, which is commonly referred to as “New Turkey” (Yeni Türkiye) by pundits and critics alike, pushes forth a pious conservative, Islamist, and nationalist cultural agenda whilst maintaining a strictly neoliberal economic outlook.

To read the full review: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=52484