ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a grounded theory about the AKP’s electoral hegemony, in light of an extensive fieldwork throughout Turkey. Based on a multi-level approach that bridges local and national politics in Turkey, the chapter offers mechanisms through which the AKP has succeeded in building its hegemony. Specifically, it delves into the role of pork barrel politics and intra-party relations that link politics at the national and local levels, as well as citizen-politician linkages at the local level. The chapter is based on numerous, in-depth elite interviews with local politicians. The empirical findings of the chapter buttress the conviction that the AKP has built its hegemony through multiple mechanisms at multiple levels.
