The Synergy between Neoliberalism and Communitarianism: “Erdoğan's Third Way”

What distinguishes the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) from previous Islam-oriented parties is its ability to create a comfortable fit between neoliberal economic policies and conservative communitarian ideas. This article explains this convergence by exploring how a certain articulation of communitarianism by the AKP government lends itself to deepening neoliberalism and by drawing comparisons to experiments in Third Way politics elsewhere by modernizing social democrats. It suggests that the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has formulated a Turkish variant of the Third Way that accommodates Islamist values while privileging the neoliberal capitalist economic order.