Research Turkey Public Conference with Dr. Ali Burak Güven: “Rethinking Turkish Capitalism: The Rise and Demise of Deficit-Led Neoliberal Populism”,
17 October 2014, SOAS
We are pleased to announce Centre for Policy and Research on Turkey (Research Turkey)’s public conference entitled “Rethinking Turkish Capitalism: The Rise and Demise of Deficit-Led Neoliberal Populism” in which Dr. Ali Burak Güven ofBirkbeck, University of London will give a talk. This event will take place on Friday, 17 October 2014 between 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. at Main College Buildings, Room G3, SOAS, University of London, WC1H 0XG. Dr. Thomas Marois, Senior Lecturer at SOAS will kindly chair the event. The event is Co-sponsored by SOAS Development Studies, Neoliberalism, Globalisation and States Research Cluster.
You may find the synopsis of the talk and a short biography of Dr. Ali Burak Güven below.
This event is free and open to public but it is a ticketed event that requires pre-registration. A ticket does not guarantee a seat. Please register using the form below.
Synopsis of the talk
“Rethinking Turkish Capitalism: The Rise and Demise of Deficit-Led Neoliberal Populism”
The Turkish economy has lost momentum over the past few years, and one of the main culprits, Dr Ali Burak Guven argues, is policymakers’ reluctance to let go of a particular economic model: deficit-led, consumption-oriented growth. In the extraordinary domestic and international opportunity structure of the mid-2000s, falling back upon the country’s default pattern of foreign capital-dependent growth provided a feasible way of reconciling the two otherwise incompatible requisites of the AKP’s electoral appeal: macro-stability, defined in orthodox neoliberal terms of fisco-financial sustainability, and social inclusion, which in the Turkish context entailed a credit-led expansion of the domestic consumer base and heterodox initiatives of targeted side-payments. Since 2008 onward, however, the positive feedback from deficit-led growth has considerably weakened. Large foreign deficits no longer insure fast growth, whereas the welfare gains from existing forms of inclusion have reached a limit. This state of affairs also sheds light on a key puzzle that characterizes “new Turkey”: why, despite a decade of political transformation, has the structure of the Turkish economy remained fundamentally unchanged.
Short Biography of Dr. Ali Burak Güven
Dr. Ali Burak Güven is Lecturer in International Relations and International Political Economy at Birkbeck, University of London. He has published widely on global political economy, international organisations, and Turkish politics/political economy, and is most recently the editor, with Richard Sandbrook, of Civilizing Globalization: A Survival Guide, Revised and Expanded Edition (SUNY Press, 2014). He previously taught at Koc University and the University of Toronto.
Short Bigography of Dr. Thomas Marois
Dr. Thomas Marois is Senior Lecturer of Political Economy in the Development Studies Department at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, UK. Thomas works in the field of comparative political economy and development. He is the author of the new book, States, Banks and Crisis: Emerging Finance Capitalism in Mexico and Turkey published by Edward Elgar in 2012. He is also participating in the European Commission Framework Programme Seven research project, Financialisation, Economy, Society and Sustainable Development as part of the Turkish team at the Middle East Technical University.
