ABSTRACT

Demonstrating how Turkey’s politics have developed, this book focuses on the causes and consequences of the failed coup d'état of 15 July 2016. The momentous event and its aftermath challenges us to ask if the coup was the cause of Turkey’s present crisis, or simply an accelerant of trends already in motion, and thus a catalyst for the realization of Erdoğan’s latent authoritarian impulses.

Bringing together approaches from politics, sociology, history and anthropology, the chapters shed much-needed light on these crucial questions. They offer scholars and nonspecialists alike a comprehensive overview of the implications of the coup attempt and its aftermath on the issues of religion, democracy, the Kurds, the state, resistance and more besides. Its effects have been felt in almost every aspect of Turkish society from religion to politics, yet it came at a time when Turkey was already experiencing significant social and political turmoil under the increasingly authoritarian leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Readers interested in contemporary politics, Turkish and Middle Eastern studies will find the volume useful, as they ponder other cases in this era of democratic retrenchment and global turmoil.

chapter |28 pages

Introduction

Accelerating political crisis in Erdoğan’s Turkey

part I|1 pages

Politics, transformation and state (re)formation

chapter 1|9 pages

The brutalisation of Turkey 1

chapter 3|17 pages

On the watch

Civil–military relations and affective politics in Turkey after the failed 15 July 2016 coup attempt

chapter 4|19 pages

Becoming an autocracy under (un)democratic circumstances

Regime change under AKP rule

chapter 5|19 pages

The enduring politics of state capture in Turkey

Situating the AKP–Gülen Concordat in historical perspective

part II|1 pages

Democracy, solidarity and hegemonic politics

chapter 7|13 pages

Making sense

Uncertainties, anxieties and the affective politics of denial in post-coup attempt Turkey

chapter 8|16 pages

Crisis of hegemony, but no counter-hegemonic project

Understanding the failed 15 July coup in Turkey

chapter 9|20 pages

The poverty of state theory

How Marxists in Turkey read the 15 July coup attempt

chapter 10|24 pages

International solidarity perplexed

From the certainties of Gezi Park to post-coup complexities

chapter 11|16 pages

Conquering the state, subordinating society

A Kurdish perspective on the development of AKP authoritarianism in Turkey 1