2026/07/08 by Vedat Demir · 2 voices
Social Sciences · #Global Security and Public Health #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Turkey's Politics and Society
paper · pdf · doi:10.20897/jlgm/18944
openalex publication_date 2026/07/08 · openalex created_date 2026/07/14 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/17
This article examines how conspiracy narratives and anti-Western rhetoric function as interconnected mechanisms of enemy construction in Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s populist discourse. It argues that Erdoğan’s rhetoric operates through a dual logic that combines abstract conspiratorial threats with historically grounded civilizational antagonisms, enabling the simultaneous production of diffuse fears and recognizable enemies. This discursive flexibility allows political adversaries to be recalibrated across domestic crises, diplomatic confrontation, and moments of electoral vulnerability, thereby contributing to the reframing of political competition in increasingly existential terms between the nation and its perceived adversaries. The findings suggest that these repertoires are associated with intensified polarization and wider discursive resonance across diverse constituencies, while also indicating patterns of affective forms of political attachment and a discursive weakening of the normative appeal of liberal-democratic principles. Situating the Turkish case within comparative research on populism and democratic erosion, the article highlights how fear, historical grievance, and adaptable enemy construction are central features of contemporary populist discourse and are frequently discussed in the literature in relation to processes of democratic backsliding.