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Dual agent of transition: how Turkey perpetuates and undermines neo-patrimonial patterns in its post-Soviet neighbourhood
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2019-09-12
Author(s)
Frahm, Ole
Abstract
The question of what drives stability of non-democratic regimes remains prominent given the obvious limitations democracy promoters like the European Union (EU) face. Plenty of studies focus on the burgeoning competition between authoritarian and democratic regimes in influencing other state´s regimes. It is severely understudied how hybrid regimes that blend authoritarian and democratic features impact their neighbours. We shine a light on this question with a qualitative study on Turkey, a hybrid regime with increasing regional agency. The paper explores Turkey’s economic engagement in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine during the most recent period of Justice and Development Party rule (2014-2018) since beneficial economic relations are the state’s foremost foreign policy goal. With reference to the concepts of neo-patrimonialism and limited access orders (North et al. 2009), we enhance the understanding of hybrid regimes by emphasizing the co-existence of sectors driven by competitive openness and neo-patrimonial closure. We argue that in hybrid regimes like Turkey the state lacks the power to muster all relevant actors to pursue a coherent foreign policy. Scrutinizing the key economic actors, we observe a high degree of freedom for Turkish actors to disseminate their own stance on the way of doing business. Crucially, Turkish actors disseminate the regime-related principles of the domestic environment they operate in and therefore disseminate neo-patrimonial closure or impersonal competitiveness. Hence, Turkey as a hybrid regime acts as dual agent of transition in its regional neighbourhood.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SEPS - Global Democratic Governance
Event Title
EISA - 13th Pan-European Conference on International Relations
Event Location
Sofia
Event Date
10-13 September 2019
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Contact Email Address
katharina.hoffmann@unisg.ch
Eprints ID
258262