Ulrike Flader

Turkey is currently governed by a regime which clearly blurs the line between authoritarian and democratic rule. While often understood in terms of a shift towards authoritarianism, Ulrike Flader argues that the coevalness of democratic and non-democratic practices should rather be seen as a deliberate and “cunning” mode of government. This project aims at contributing to a deeper understanding of this specific co-existence and interplay of seemingly contradictory practices. It explores the ambivalent, flexible and fluid nature that characterizes this form of soft authoritarianism. By specifically focussing on how this mode of governing manages to dismantle a functioning opposition, it offers an anthropological perspective on its workings which goes beyond the institutional changes, legal and administrative restrictions, and instead takes the everyday effects on civil society actors as its lens.