From delegative democracy to competitive authoritarism; the place of Turkish democracy between “democracy with adjectives” and “authoritarian regimes with adjectives”

Abstract

There is a global erosion in the standards and quality of democracy. Regrettably and undoubtedly, this situation shows itself in Turkey as well. Despite the severe criticisms that Turkish democracy has received, studies on the place of Turkish democracy among world democracies are limited. Turkish democracy was considered to be a delegative democracy in the sense that it has not been consolidated and has failed to become institutionalized. It is an evident example of majoritarian democracy. On the other hand, there is competition when it comes to Competitive Authoritarianism. Yet, the competition is real but not fair in these regimes. Despite this uneven playing field, there is still a risk of losing elections for the government, which differs from authoritarian regimes in this respect. In this study, we plan to examine Turkey's oscillation between the pendulums of delegative democracy and competitive authoritarianism.