Crony Capitalism and Emergence of a New Hegemony in Turkey
Abstract
During 2000s, crony relations between small and medium size entrepreneurs representing conservative capital owners and government reached its climax in a roll-out neoliberal capitalism. It stemmed from the existence of a new historical bloc under the AK Party governments. Large-size firms that had gained profit in the conjuncture with import-substituting development model, and in turn that became a part of old historical bloc in roll-back neoliberal capitalism lose their old shiny days due to transformation which was occurred in the way of Islamist capital owners’ and conservative political movement’s building a new hegemony over classes and constructing a bloc consisting of coherence of material power, ideas, and institutions. This new historical bloc has risen from construction sector that has made it possible to create rent-creating crony capitalism.
Crony Capitalism and Its Historical Examples
Crony capitalism is a mode of "capitalist political economic system where allocation and distribution of opportunities, interests, benefits or resources are overwhelmingly based on personal relationships..."1 It can further be defined to include "private-sector businessmen who benefited enormously from close relations with leading officials and politicians, obtaining not only protection from foreign competition, but also concessions, licenses, monopoly rights, and government subsidies."2 The key element of crony capitalism is to gain at 'others' expense'.3 The masses, who are casting their votes for the benefit of the opposition, believing in a religion different from what rulers believe in, or having different ethnicity from the elites, generate 'other' side of the crony capitalism.
Despite the fact that the rulers may be changed due to the nature of democracy, sometimes they cannot be at ease with this reality. In this scenario, there are two possibilities: It is either that they try to hold on to power by gaining voters' confidence by developing healthy
During 2000s, crony relations between small and medium size entrepreneurs representing conservative capital owners and government reached its climax in a roll-out neoliberal capitalism. It stemmed from the existence of a new historical bloc under the AK Party governments. Large-size firms that had gained profit in the conjuncture with import-substituting development model, and in turn that became a part of old historical bloc in roll-back neoliberal capitalism lose their old shiny days due to transformation which was occurred in the way of Islamist capital owners’ and conservative political movement’s building a new hegemony over classes and constructing a bloc consisting of coherence of material power, ideas, and institutions. This new historical bloc has risen from construction sector that has made it possible to create rent-creating crony capitalism.
Crony Capitalism and Its Historical Examples
Crony capitalism is a mode of "capitalist political economic system where allocation and distribution of opportunities, interests, benefits or resources are overwhelmingly based on personal relationships..."1 It can further be defined to include "private-sector businessmen who benefited enormously from close relations with leading officials and politicians, obtaining not only protection from foreign competition, but also concessions, licenses, monopoly rights, and government subsidies."2 The key element of crony capitalism is to gain at 'others' expense'.3 The masses, who are casting their votes for the benefit of the opposition, believing in a religion different from what rulers believe in, or having different ethnicity from the elites, generate 'other' side of the crony capitalism.
Despite the fact that the rulers may be changed due to the nature of democracy, sometimes they cannot be at ease with this reality. In this scenario, there are two possibilities: It is either that they try to hold on to power by gaining voters' confidence by developing healthy