TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Content…………………….…………………………...…………………………………

Abstract…………………………….…………………………………………………...…………ii

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….…….1

AKP’s Success Over the Coalition Government………………………………………….

……….2

Turkish Financial Troubles In 2000-2001……………………………………………………….2-

Short-Term Response from The Coalition Government………………………………………...4-

Long-Term Advantage for The AKP…….…………..………………………………………….5-7

AKP’s Neo-Populism and Conservative Democracy….………………………………………7-12

AKP Rules: Creating Loyal Businessmen Group….………………………………………….12-

15

Business Reward Returns: Keep the AKP as Strength.……………………………………….15-

16

Conclusion…………………….……………………………………………………………...16-17

References……….…………………………………….……………………………………..18-20
THE RISE TO POLITICAL DOMINATION OF AKP | i
Division of Labours:

Black : Joint-work Red: Abdullah Blue: Chalim Green: Linh

Abstract

Since the 15th election on November 3th, 2002, Turkish politics has been under the
dominance of Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – AKP). After almost
20 years, this remains as the status quo in Turkish political dynamics, and the representative
who brought AKP to power in the first place, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, still secures his
position and shows no sign of losing his legitimacy. It is incredible for any political entity to
hold prestige for such a long time. Many have attributed this success to AKP’s economic
achievement, particularly their contribution in reviving Turkish economy after the banking and
financial crises in 2000-2001. However, there is a possibility that the AKP government is
overrated in terms of economic policies, and their popularity is better explained by associating
with populism. In this research, the question of whether the AKP rose to power thanks to their
visionary reforms or mass mobilization strategy will be concentrated and analyzed.

T H E R I S E T O P O L I T I C A L D O M I N A T I O N O F A K P | ii
 Key words: AKP, economic achievement, neo-populism, mass mobilization, conservative
democracy, neoliberalism, conservative globalism, privatization, social acceptance, taxation,
business groups

T H E R I S E T O P O L I T I C A L D O M I N A T I O N O F A K P | iii