A Historical Analysis of the AKP in Power

Hegemony, Predominance, and Interregnum

Abstract

AKP governments under the political leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan challenged the establishment of the old regime, which comprised the military, bureaucracy, and the judiciary. However, this challenge did not bring about a more liberally democratic political regime. Many commentators, even those who supported the AKP’s first government and who acted as a prime minister and ministers in the previous AKP governments, agree that the party has been drifting toward authoritarianism.