Current Sociology

Please welcome our Sociologist of the Month for June 2023, Zeynep Atalay (Department of Sociology, St. Mary’s College of California, USA). Her article for Current Sociology The mutual constitution of illiberal civil society and neoauthoritarianism: Evidence from Turkey was shortlisted for the first edition (2023) of the Annual SAGE Current Sociology Best Paper Prize, and is Open Access.

Zeynep Atalay

Could you please tell us about yourself? How did you come to your field of study?

Z. Atalay: My interest in civil society goes back to what I call the “civil society fever of the 90s.” I was a college student in Istanbul in the late-90s, and buzzwords such as civil politics, democratic participation, and active citizenship were everywhere. The civil society hype was fed by a dazzling promise: democratization. Talk of pluralism, demilitarization, and autonomous politics breathed fresh air into the Turkish political context, which had been stifled by decades of military tutelage, unaccounted state violence, and human rights abuses. The EU accession process in the early-2000s gave another boost to the civil society trend; civil society speak dominated the political discourse across the spectrum, NGOs mushroomed, and the nonprofit sector became a career path for many.

Almost three decades later, we find ourselves in a different political reality in Turkey and across the globe. The “civil society as the harbinger of democratization” rhetoric has lost its sheen. The global rise of right-wing populism and illiberal civil society actors has made it clear that civil society is not an inherently democratic force. It has also become abundantly clear that neoauthoritarian leaders are not oblivious to civil society’s value. True neoauthoritarians do not quash civil society altogether; they use it strategically. They nurture their symbiotic actors, colonize the civil society space, and claim legitimacy. Personally, observing civil society’s trajectory from its heyday to today has been fascinating and disconcerting in equal measure.

What prompted you to research the area of your article, “The mutual constitution of illiberal civil society and neoauthoritarianism: Evidence from Turkey”?

Z. Atalay: State-civil society relationship has been my main research area since graduate school. In this project, I wanted to draw attention to the role of illiberal civil society actors in building neoauthoritarian regimes. We often discuss democratic decline and civic space erosion as if they were processes driven singlehandedly by ruling governments. Yet, it is not the case. Civil society, which was once hailed as the “harbinger of democratization,” may, in fact, contribute to the hegemonic consolidation of power.

Throughout its almost two-decade rule, the AKP government in Turkey has used various intimidation tactics to repress oppositional voices in civil society while nurturing and empowering actors that have organic links to the party cadres. In the process, Islamic NGOs and charities have become part of the state machinery: They assist the government with policy implementation, welfare management, voter mobilization, political agenda-setting, etc. In the project, I use the Turkish case to analyze the ‘uses and abuses of civil society’ as a multidimensional opportunity structure.

What do you see as the key findings of your article?

Z. Atalay: In the article, I develop mutual constitution as a model of state – civil society relationship in neoauthoritarian contexts. I define mutual constitution as “the relationship of utilitarian reciprocity between the ruling authority and civil society actors where both parties expand and consolidate their respective domains.” In the Turkish case, the government and its loyalist civil society actors hail from the same political Islamic movement in Turkey. In other words, the Islamic NGOs and charities, discussed in this article, are neither GONGOs nor browbeaten into cooperating with the regime. They already share a political culture and normative ideals. They thrived under the ruling party’s patronage and, in return, assisted the neoauthoritarian regime consolidation.

What are the wider social implications of your research in the current social climate? How do you think things will change in the future?

Z. Atalay: In the last few years, we have been talking a lot about the shrinking space for civil society, but a closer look reveals that the political space is not shrinking for everyone. On the contrary, conservative actors have been gaining traction worldwide. They range from far-right groups that make the headlines for their exclusionary and ethno-religious agendas to conservative think-tanks quietly but methodologically influencing policy. They are often linked to conservative political parties, and they are able to mobilize public opinion in favor of non-democratic political leaders. In turn, those leaders are more than happy to expand such illiberal actors' visibility and maneuvering space. This reciprocity facilitates democratic decline around the world. Having said that, I am not pessimistic about the state of civil society. Social justice movements have a long history of resisting state encroachment, and they are resilient. In Turkey, for instance, the feminist movement has successfully put women’s rights into the heart of all political agendas despite the securitized climate.

Do you have any links to images, documents or other pieces of research which build on or add to the article? Or a suggested reading list?

Z. Atalay: For those interested in exploring how this dynamic has played out in gender politics, I would recommend Atalay, Z. (2019) Partners in patriarchy: Faith-based organizations and neoliberalism in Turkey, Critical Sociology, 45(3), 431-445. The Mobilization of Conservative Civil Society, an edited volume by the Carnegie Endowment, offers an overview of the rise of conservative civil society around the world. For an excellent example of how the NGO format enhances illiberal actors’ maneuvering space, I would also like to recommend Sarbeswar Sahoo’s work on the successful efforts of RVKP, a Hindu(tva)-oriented NGO, in mobilizing electoral support for the Hindu-nationalist BJP through welfare and development programs in Rajasthan.