Turkey's democratic backsliding with Esra İşsever-Ekinci

Turkey has experienced a severe erosion of democratic principles. Democratic institutions have been changed, the media heavily influenced and controlled by government forces, and opposition politicians are intimidated and persecuted.

With Esra İşsever-Ekinci I discuss Turkey's democratic backsliding. She explains what steps the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) took to secure their power grab. Changing the democratic institutions was an essential part of preserving power, so that now it looks unlikely that the opposition forces are able to seriously challenge this power in the upcoming elections in the 2023 general elections.

To name just two setbacks, a presidential system was introduced in 2017, that concentrates more power in the executive, and the media have become heavily controlled by the government so that the opposition has mostly lost its voice.

Esra İşsever-Ekinci is a postdoctoral researcher at Koç University in Istanbul. She got her PhD in Political Science and Government from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in the U.S. in 2019. Her research is in Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Institutions and Electoral Systems, focusing especially on issues of electoral reform and gender.

CORRIGENDUM: 8:33 Democrat Party instead of Democratic Party; 13:20 1970s instead of 1960s; 19:47 15 million votes, it may sound like 50 million.

Show notes with a full transcript and links to all material discussed: https://rulesofthegame.blog/turkeys-democratic-backsliding/

Schedule: 0:00 Introduction / 3:07 Personal questions / 5:34 main discussion / 40:29 Recommendations by Esra İşsever-Ekinci

Find more information about Esra İşsever-Ekinci's research: https://gsssh.ku.edu.tr/en/departments/international-relations-and-political-science/faculty/show/esraekinci/

Follow Esra on Twitter: https://twitter.com/es_ekinci

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Please enjoy this wide ranging conversation with Esra İşsever-Ekinci.