Colloquium Event

How does Neoauthoritarianism Endure? Putin's Russia and Erdogan's Turkey in Comparative Perspective

Oksan Bayulgen and Sercan Canbolat UCONN Political Science

Wednesday, February 17 12:15-1:30pm Oak 438

Free and Open to the Public

About the Talk: We seek to explain the causal mechanisms of neoauthoritarian stability and instability, focusing on three elite strategies – centralization, repression, and legitimacy – and the interaction of these strategies with exogenous factors. Our hypotheses are generated from in-depth case studies of Vladimir Putin's and Recep Tayyip Erdogan's tenures in Russia and Turkey respectively. Despite differences in their countries' past experiences with democracy, these leaders have used similar strategies to stay in power. Persistent efforts at centralization and legitimacy building, combined with selective use of repression, distinguish these regimes from their traditional authoritarian counterparts. The Russian and Turkish cases demonstrate that increasing centralization of power is stabilizing only to the extent that these regimes find ways to broaden their legitimacy and use limited, targeted repression.

About the Speakers: Oksan Bayulgen is an Associate Professor of Political Science. Sercan Canbolat is a second year graduate student in the Department of Political Science.

Hosted by the Department of Political Science.

For a copy of the associated paper, please contact Vin Moscardelli (vin.moscardelli@uconn.edu).