Turkish politics: raison d’État versus republic

Abstract

Turkey is still far from having reached the level of advanced representative democracies. Turkish social and political life oscillate between the two modes of modern unfreedom: tryranny of majority and soft despotism. The logic of raison d'État is observed as the dominant state of mind in Turkey both in power circles and among the ruled. The article explores the literature of the sociology of Turkish politics paying special attention to the evolution of political vocabulary. After examining the impacts of the latest developments and considering contemporary challenges of authoritarianism, it argues that a Tocquevillian tension of freedom/unfreedom is shaping the framework of Turkish politics.