Civil Society and Autocratisation Co-optation, Repression and Contestation in Turkey

This book investigates the transformation of civil society in Turkey during its latest and longest-lasting episode of autocratisation under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Drawing on extensive fieldwork, interviews, and documentary analysis, the book introduces a three-fold theoretical framework to account for civil society’s transformation: co-optation, repression, and contestation. Some organisations have been co-opted to become ideological arms of the AKP within civil society, transmitting the authoritarian regime's influence through patronage networks, social provision, and coordinated efforts in indoctrination and grass-roots mobilisation. The AKP employs selective repression through legislative, judicial and discursive strategies to undermine civic networks, organisations and groups that do not yield to co-optation. Despite co-optation and repression, autonomous civil society employs various counter-strategies to remain resilient, such as public advocacy, non-violent protest, digital activism, and democratic innovations. This study critically examines civil society's dual role as both an enabler and a resistor of autocratisation and offers new insights into the coexistence of authoritarian governance and democratic resilience.