by Huiseob Lim | Apr 20, 2026 | George Mason University
Turkey still holds elections, yet democratic competition in the country has become increasingly constrained. Freedom House’s 2026 report rates Turkey 32/100 and classifies it as “Not Free,” describing a system in which Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP have...
by Seoyoung Jung | Apr 20, 2026 | George Mason University
Hook In the early 2000s, Turkey looked like a promising case of democracy. Many people believed it could become a stable liberal democracy, even in a Muslim-majority country. However, today, Turkey is often described as an authoritarian regime. So what went wrong? In...
by Alexa Smith | Apr 17, 2026 | Boston University
Turkey, once hailed as a model of democracy for its neighbors, has experienced a steady democratic decline over more than two decades of rule by President Erdoğan and the AKP (Justice and Development Party). One of the most notable examples of Turkey’s democratic...
by Mahika Malhotra | Apr 15, 2026 | Boston University
A country does not have to cancel elections to weaken democracy. Sometimes leaders keep elections in place but make it harder for the opposition to compete fairly. I argue that Turkey’s crackdown on Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu shows this clearly. This is not...
