Business and Politics in AKP-Era Turkey Reuben Silverman a Thesis
Justice and Development in the Marketplace: Business and Politics in AKP-Era Turkey Reuben Silverman A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in International Studies University of Washington 2012 Committee: Reat Kasaba Scott Radnitz Program Authorized to Offer Degree: International Studies I. Introduction Turkey has long been a model for developing countries. As sociologist Çalar Keydar observed, “[its] political independence, coexisting with economic domination . prefigured the later histories of many a peripheral country.”1 Its subsequent economic experiences, ranging from etatism, to import-substitute industrialization, to market liberalization have likewise mirrored—or even preceded—those of similarly positioned countries. Unsurprising then that, after a decade of rapid growth, many are once again seeking to understand the roots of Turkey’s success. A common explanation is that, the Turkish government, like many of its peers over the past thirty years, “has accepted to govern on . .diminished terms.”2 Starting in the 1980s, and accelerating after 2001 when economic collapse forced Turkish leaders to adopt International Monetary Fund (IMF) requirements and European Union (EU) norms, Turkey opened up its economy, shed the heavy hand of the state, and pursued new opportunities in surrounding markets. These market-oriented, or “neoliberal,”3 reforms have been embraced by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which represents the economic interests of groups long marginalized by the state and who are, consequently, in favor of its newly restricted role. In this telling, Turkey is experiencing “a gradual movement away from a state-led developmentalism” and, in a sense, offers a counter-point to the sort of “state capitalism” practiced by countries like Russia or China.4 This paper disputes such an interpretation of events.
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