Manifestations of Autocratic Legalism: The Turkish Case

• Florence School of Transnational Governance
• TD21 - Trasnational Democracy in the 21st century

We welcome Ayşe Kadıoğlu (Professor of Political Science at Sabancı University, and Visiting Fellow at the Florence School of Transnational Governance, EUI) to discuss her work on the concept of autocratic legalism, with a focus on Turkey as a case study.

Hybrid regimes are distinguished by the strange combination of competitive elections and authoritarian practices. Unlike military coup d’états, their consolidation is gradual rather than abrupt. Expressions such as illiberal democracy, competitive authoritarianism, and electoral authoritarianism are used in the literature to describe them. These regimes are also distinguished by the use and abuse of the laws by the elected incumbents. In fact, the use of legality in authoritarian consolidation has become a global phenomenon at the turn of the twenty first century leading to expressions like rule by law in place of rule of law. The expression autocratic legalism has been used in the literature in identifying such political regimes.

In this talk, we welcome Professor Ayse Kadioglu (Professor of Political Science at Sabanci University, and Visiting Fellow at the Florence School of Transnational Governance, EUI) to explore the concept of autocratic legalism by focusing on Turkey as a case study. Highlighting changes to the Law on Elections and Electoral Records and The Municipal Law, the presentation will examine how these legal shifts create uneven electoral fields and enable the replacement of elected mayors with appointed ones. The discussion will draw on comparative insights from Professor Kadioglu's earlier work on new authoritarian political actors in Turkey, Venezuela, and Poland. 

This event is part of the STG Research Seminar Series and Transnational Democracy Cluster. It will take place in hybrid format at the STG premises in Palazzo Buontalenti. All are welcome to attend. Please register, indicating whether you intend to attend online or in person.