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1 - Introduction: New Authoritarian Practices in theMENA Region: Key Developments and Trends
- Edited by Ozgun Topak, York University, Toronto, Merouan Mekouar, Francesco Cavatorta
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- Book:
- New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa
- Published by:
- Edinburgh University Press
- Published online:
- 18 November 2022
- Print publication:
- 30 June 2022, pp 1-29
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
The brutal murder of the Saudi dissident journalistJamal Khashoggi in October 2018 and the eventsleading up to his death illustrate the combined useof traditional and new authoritarian practices inthe Middle East and North Africa (MENA). On 2October 2018 Khashoggi entered the IstanbulConsulate of Saudi Arabia where he was tortured,killed and his body dismembered. Research by theUniversity of Toronto's Citizen Lab (2018, 2019) andstatements made by Omar Abdulaziz (Loveday andZakaria 2018), another Saudi dissident and friend ofKhashoggi, showed the key role played by Pegasus, amalicious tracking software developed by theIsrael-based NSO Group, in the events leading to themurder of the Saudi journalist. The investigationCitizen Lab conducted showed that Abdulaziz's phonewas infected with the spyware, which would haveallowed Saudi officials to access his privateconversations with his contacts, includingKhashoggi. Abdulaziz revealed that he was in regularphone contact with Khashoggi about organising socialmedia activism to counter the influence of Saudipro-government trolls on the internet.
Extra-judicial killings of dissidents, alongsidesurveillance, imprisonment, intimidation, tortureand ill-treatment of dissidents, as well as otherpractices to suppress dissent and control activists,opposition parties, the judiciary and the media,have long existed in the region. The chapters inthis book demonstrate that, even if they may not beas spectacularly violent as in the Khashoggikilling, many MENA regimes continue to deploytried-and-tested authoritarian practices to controlsociety and suppress dissent. However, thesehistorically-established practices have also beenrefashioned, often in innovative ways, by MENAregimes to respond to growing dissent in theirsocieties. These refashioned authoritarian practicesare often enabled by new digital surveillance tools.While the killing of Khashoggi, which combinesmurder and dismemberment with digital spying, is oneof the most shocking examples of the mixed nature ofcontemporary authoritarian practices, other MENAregimes are also increasingly relying on newdigitally-based authoritarian practices such associal media surveillance, the use of malicioussoftware, the mobilisation of troll armies anddissemination of fake news on broadcast and socialmedia. As a result, MENA regimes often use a mix ofhistorically-established practices and newauthoritarian ones in conjunction with one anotherto form what Topak (2019; this book 2022) calls an‘authoritarian assemblage’.
15 - An Assemblage of New Authoritarian Practices inTurkey
- Edited by Ozgun Topak, York University, Toronto, Merouan Mekouar, Francesco Cavatorta
-
- Book:
- New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa
- Published by:
- Edinburgh University Press
- Published online:
- 18 November 2022
- Print publication:
- 30 June 2022, pp 296-319
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- Chapter
- Export citation
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Summary
Introduction
In October 2010, TheEconomist made the following observationabout Turkey: ‘Turkey is heading in a gooddirection. It remains a shining (and rare) examplein the Muslim world of a vibrant democracy with therule of law and a thriving free-market economy.’From the AKP's election to power in 2002 until theparty's heavy-handed response to the Gezi protestersin 2013, Western media and policy circles, as wellas national supporters of the AKP, promoted theimage of the Party as a reform model for the entireMENA. The so-called ‘Turkish model’ had in factlittle substance from the outset. The AKP'sauthoritarian practices, including pressures onmedia, the use of politically motivated trials andsurveillance of dissident or oppositional groups,were already present in the first decade of itsrule, even though these and other practices havesignificantly expanded their reach and intensitypost-2013 (see e.g. Yeşil 2016; Oğuz 2016; Topak2017 2019; Tansel 2018; Kaygusuz 2018). Thecontinuity in authoritarian practices under the twodecades of the AKP's rule makes it difficult todesignate the ‘new’ in new authoritarian practices.The picture is further complicated if we considerthe country's authoritarian tradition. Yet, there isalso something novel about the current authoritarianpractices which aggressively aim to discipline allspheres of political and social life, including theonline sphere, rather than only targeting selectedindividuals and groups. Following the model of anassemblage (Topak 2019) these practices are alsocontinuously expanding their reach, and make newconnections.
This chapter cannot provide a detailed examination ofeach authoritarian practice and its complexgenealogy. Rather, the aim is to provide ahistorically-grounded and theoretically informedoverview of key expanding authoritarian practicesunder the AKP's rule. To this end, the chapterstarts by discussing the authoritarian statetradition in Turkey and how the AKP inherited thistradition. Next, it draws on Michael Mann's model ofthe authoritarian state and the concept of theauthoritarian assemblage and examines expandingauthoritarian practices in key areas including civilsociety, law/judiciary, police/policing and theinternet.
The AKP and the Authoritarian State Traditionin Turkey
Modern Turkey inherited the tradition of top-down ruleof the central authority in the absence of a strongcivil society from the Ottoman Empire (Heper2000).