Comparing Strategies of (De)Politicisation in Europe: Governance, Resistance and Anti-politics. Buller J, Donmez P, Standring A, Wood M, editors. Palgrave Macmillan; 2018.
Politicisation as Governing Strategy Versus Resistance: Demystifying Capitalist Social Relations and the State in Turkey. In: Comparing Strategies of (De)Politicisation in Europe: Governance, Resistance and Anti-politics. Palgrave Macmillan; 2018. p. 155-88. Abstract
Politicisation as Governing Strategy Versus Resistance: Demystifying Capitalist Social Relations and the State in Turkey
This chapter argues that the recent developments in Turkey towards what some deem “authoritarian”/“illiberal” form of governing cannot be divorced from their relationality with the post-2001 depoliticisation strategy in economic policymaking or the large-scale politicisation of social relations since the summer of 2013. Proposing a critical approach to (de)politicisation within a broader understanding of the crisis and restructuring of social relations, the chapter presents an account of the progressive forms of politicisation that aim to demystify the capitalist and class character of social relations. Against this background, the chapter assesses the unfolding politicisation in counter-hegemonic form as manifested in Gezi protests as well as the enclosure of the political terrain with the governing strategy of politicisation in the post-2013 context.
Depoliticisation, Post-politics and the Problem of Change. In: Comparing Strategies of (De)Politicisation in Europe: Governance, Resistance and Anti-politics. Palgrave Macmillan; 2018. p. 1-24.
Crisis of Capitalism and (De-)Politicisation of Monetary Policymaking: Reflections from Hungary and Turkey. New Political Economy. 2018. Abstract
Crisis of Capitalism and (De-)Politicisation of Monetary Policymaking: Reflections from Hungary and Turkey
This article explores the changes in monetary policymaking in Hungary and Turkey in the context of the post-2008 global financial crisis and restructuring. Both countries went through a thorough restructuring process in the pre-2008 context. While this process has introduced and consolidated depoliticised forms of governing to a certain degree in both countries, we suggest that the latest crisis has contributed to the emergence of a politicisation process. In the Hungarian case, these processes are reflected in both discursive attempts and the instalment of visible centralised control over the management of money. In Turkey, intensifying discursive attempts to politicize monetary policy have not led to an explicit change in the formally depoliticised character of central banking until recently but politicised other policy areas. In both countries, the process has accompanied the entrenchment of increasingly oppressive discourse and practices as part of the overall management of the crisis-ridden capitalist social relations. The paper aims to explore these similarities and differences within a critical political economy approach to state, governing strategies and (de)politicisation and to contribute to advancing research beyond the established case studies in the existing literature.
Revisiting the Debate on Open Marxist Perspectives. British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 2016;18(3):688-705. Abstract
Revisiting the Debate on Open Marxist Perspectives
This article seeks to review the recent incarnation of a long-standing engagement in international political economy (IPE) and critical theory between open Marxist perspectives (OMPs) and their critics. The article aims to identify the enduring relevance of this debate in order to think about the possibility and future of critical social inquiry in our time constructively. It criticises elements on both sides of the debate that no longer serve but rather hinder achieving this objective. We argue that the recent criticisms make a number of important constructive points that could help enhance the explanatory power of OMPs yet still portray the latter uncharitably. We propose to take the emphasis on openness in OMPs seriously as a scholarly and political orientation without immersing the debate with the charges of reductionism, instrumentalism, determinism and functionalism which are frequently raised by various versions of Marxism against one another—often to little avail.
State, Crisis and Politicization of Economic Policymaking: Reflections from Hungary and Turkey. Budapest: CEU Center for Policy Studies; 2015.
Crisis and Regional Governance Attempts: the Curious Case of Turkey in Critical Perspective. In: Regionalising Global Crises: The Financial Crisis and New Frontiers in Regional Governance. Palgrave MacMillan; 2014. (International Political Economy Series). Abstract
Crisis and Regional Governance Attempts: the Curious Case of Turkey in Critical Perspective
Despite often being treated as an ‘anti-case’ of regionalism, borrowing an expression used for the Middle Eastern region (Coskun, 2008, p. 89), Turkey has recently been receiving considerable amount of public and scholarly attention due to its increasing international profile and active foreign policy over the past decade. It has been called, among other things, a ‘benign’ (instead of a ‘coercive regional power’) (Aras, 2005; Onis, 2003), a ‘trading state’ (Kirisci, 2009), an ‘emerging middle power’, and a ‘bridge-builder’ (Lesage and Kacar, 2010; Vom Hau et al., 2012). However, these analyses have not addressed Turkey’s role (or lack thereof) in facilitating regional governance as defined in this volume. The latest ‘global’ crisis has had dramatic implications for the European, the Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean regions, all three of which border Turkey. It is thus appropriate to consider the challenges posed to Turkey, given the rhetoric of its so-called emergent regional influence, and to challenge the approaches, which assume the permeation of such influence over time. To do this, a critical and historical perspective, which incorporates the decisive role of crisis (in the singular), and crises (in plural), in triggering and hindering regional governance modes is necessary.
Making Sense of (Anti) Politics In and Out of Crisis in Turkey: A Critical Intervention. London: Centre for Policy and Research on Turkey (Research Turkey); 2014.