<a fr-original-style="" href="https://apos.to/a/6253e337aad632000655db61" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Abdullah Esin</a>After the 2001 economic crisis, the AK Party came to power with 34% of the vote in the general elections and became the sole implementer of the stand-by agreement with the IMF to exit the crisis. The structural reforms stipulated by the IMF can be summarized as the reduction of state subsidies, the privatization of State Economic Enterprises (SOEs), the strengthening of the economy's supervisory and regulatory institutions, and the suppression of workers' wages.These policies would partially reduce the welfare level of the citizens. But they were seen as reforms that had to be implemented at the time as a prescription for a way out of the economic crisis. So in a conjuncture, when union activities were suppressed, wage labor was systematically prepared, and income levels of the working class were reduced, how was the AK Party able to consistently increase its vote share in a period? It's a question frequently discussed and answered from various angles in political science literature. One of the most satisfactory answers to this question is "neoliberal populism."Neoliberal populism consists of two pillars. One pillar is neoliberal policies suppress trade union activities, systematically reduce the purchasing power of the lower and middle classes, reduce the state's role in the economy through privatization, and leave the lower and middle classes at the mercy of private market dynamics.The other pillar of the system, populism, allows the government to provide a certain level of welfare to its citizens through social benefits and non-direct subsidies. According to TurkStat data, social expenditures (considering the impact of social assistance during the pandemic) reached 600 billion liras in 2020.Classes negatively affected by neoliberal policies can be satisfied in the short term with populist policies. In other words, populism facilitates the implementation of neoliberal policies by reducing social resistance against the government. Neoliberal populism has given the AK Party government both a mechanism to create rent for capital owners close to it and a chance to make a voter dependent on it through social assistance.In a 2018 survey conducted by KONDA, the segments that the AK Party received the most votes are housewives with 37%, shopkeepers with 27%, retired people, farmers, and workers with 14%. We can see that the social segments that have suffered the most economically from neoliberal policies also constitute the AK Party's strongest voter group.

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