APPARATCHIKS AND IDEOLOGUES IN ISLAMIST TURKEY : the intellectual order of islamism and populism

This book analyzes how AKP's embedded intellectuals operate as media spin doctors, exploring their transformation from passionately engaged intellectuals into apparatchiks. This project adapts a post-Soviet geography approach to the media, intelligentsia, and political discourse as derivative of authoritarian regimes to the Turkish context. It offers a fresh look at the Turkish political and intellectual scene and a comparative study of the populist-authoritarian politics of Turkey. Situated in the literature on the post-Soviet authoritarian regimes and their ways of governing, as well as their manipulation of public opinion, the book analyzes AKP-aligned intellectuals as apparatchiks. Gürpınar explores the different constellations of pro-AKP intellectuals vindicating the AKP regime from various angles, including: liberal/progressive intellectuals who initially supported the party for its liberal vistas but continued their support by twisting their progressive rhetoric; Islamist intellectuals blending their Islamism with populism; and national security intellectuals who joined after the AKP came to propagate a national security agenda. The book also provides an overview of the mechanisms of political technology, including the media landscape and its running by the AKP, intellectuals themselves as operators of political technology, and the problem of "cultural power." The book will be of interest to those studying comparative authoritarian politics, populism, political communication, and scholars of Middle East and Eastern Europe. Permissions Contents Chapter 1: Introduction: The AKP’s Intellectual Order and Political Technology in Comparative Perspectives Discourse and Power The Soviet Union, Its Intelligentsia, and the Other Autocracies Contemporaneous Populisms and Political Technology References Chapter 2: Quasi-liberal Intellectuals as AKP Apparatchiks: The Second Republic, White Turks, and Other Apologetics (Left-)Liberal Perceptions of the New Political Reality: Second Republic and Beyond The AKP as Accomplice of the “Deep State”: Left-Liberals in Opposition References Chapter 3: Islamism, Populism, and Nativism: A Syncretic Brand The Rise and Fall of Reformist Islamism Nativism and the White Turks Cultural Power and Cultural Hegemony References Chapter 4: Popular Culture and Conspiracy: Managing the Political Entertainment Scene Clowns, Eccentrics, and Pseudo-intellectuals Pop Music, Football, and the Cultural Order References Chapter 5: The Rise of Politico Intellectuals: Think Tanks and the Operators of Political Technology Pyramids of Power and the Personalization of Career Paths Factions and Family Ahmet Davutoğlu: The Rise and Fall of a Politico Intellectual BİSAV, SETA, and Think Tank Intellectuals of New Turkey The Rise of Foreign Policy Intellectuals from US Neocons to New Turkey Apparatchiks Pelicans and the Operation Pelican  References Chapter 6: Allies: The AKP-MHP Coalition and the Defense Intellectuals The Bizarre Case of the MHP as a Political and Bureaucratic Power Fellow Travelers: Security Intellectuals, Kemalists, and Eurasianists References Chapter 7: The State of Turkish Universities During the AKP Rule Anti-liberal Discourses and Turkey’s Two Academic Cultures Ousting the Old Guard and the Failure to Impose a New Hegemony References Chapter 8: Historians, Ottomanphilia, Perennial Islam, and Contested National Identity in an Era of Cultural War Culture Wars in Turkey The Passing of the National Grand Narrative The Fall of Historical Revisionism and the Rise of Ottomanphilia The Ottoman Ecumene as Perennial Islamic Eden Ahmet Davutoğlu: History on Horseback Yusuf Kaplan: Soothsayer and Jeremiad of Islamic Civilization Incorporating İnalcık Conclusion References Conclusion: Ideologues and Apparatchiks Author Index Subject Index This book analyzes how AKPs embedded intellectuals operate as media spin doctors, exploring their transformation from passionately engaged intellectuals into apparatchiks. This project adapts a post-Soviet geography approach to the media, intelligentsia, and political discourse as derivative of authoritarian regimes to the Turkish context. It offers a fresh look at the Turkish political and intellectual scene and a comparative study of the populist-authoritarian politics of Turkey. Situated in the literature on the post-Soviet authoritarian regimes and their ways of governing, as well as their manipulation of public opinion, the book analyzes AKP-aligned intellectuals as apparatchiks. Gurpnar explores the different constellations of pro-AKP intellectuals vindicating the AKP regime from various angles, including: liberal/progressive intellectuals who initially supported the party for its liberal vistas but continued their support by twisting their progressive rhetoric; Islamist intellectuals blending their Islamism with populism; and national security intellectuals who joined after the AKP came to propagate a national security agenda. The book also provides an overview of the mechanisms of political technology, including the media landscape and its running by the AKP, intellectuals themselves as operators of political technology, and the problem of "cultural power." The book will be of interest to those studying comparative authoritarian politics, populism, political communication, and scholars of Middle East and Eastern Europe. Dogan Gurpnar is an associate professor at Istanbul Technical University (ITU). He has published three books in English: Ottoman/Turkish Visions of the Nation, 18601950 (2013), Ottoman Imperial Diplomacy (2014), and Conspiracy Nation: Conspiracy Theories in Turkey (2019)