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.