The Illiberal Pact

The Illiberal Pact examines the partnership between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Islamic civil society in Turkey over the last two decades. Since taking office in 2002, the AKP has turned Islamic charities and NGOs into extensions of the state, and this alliance has consolidated Turkey's current neoauthoritarian regime and its conservative ideology, reflecting a growing global trend of illiberal actors weaponizing civil society to erode democratic norms.

Drawing on interviews, document analysis, and textual data, author Zeynep Atalay presents a new conceptual framework--mutual constitution--to account for the overlap of illiberal governments and civil society actors as they fortify nondemocratic regimes in Turkey and elsewhere. As these organizations have worked in close collaboration with the AKP, they have bolstered the government's operational capacity, streamlined policy implementation, and mobilized grassroots support. This coordination also includes economic neoliberalization, welfare management, social policies focusing on women and families, and foreign policy endeavors targeted across the "Islamic world." With roots in religious conservatism, cultural traditionalism, and patriarchal gender norms, the ideological commitments of Islamic civil society have pushed Turkey toward normalizing illiberal claims, particularly in opposition to gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights.

Blending sociology and political theory, The Illiberal Pact challenges prevailing assumptions about civil society as a progressive force and spotlights the growing significance of illiberal civil society actors in politics.