For Strongmen, It’s Not the Economy, Stupid
Populist leaders of once-powerful civilizations such as Turkey, India and Russia have figured out how to defy electoral logic.
Erdogan’s fans aren’t focused on the economy.
Photographer: Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images
Voters in Turkey’s presidential elections haven’t just proven opinion polls wrong. Apparently on their way to re-electing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after two decades in power, they have also upended conventional political wisdom: that an incumbent responsible for devastating inflation, a plummeting currency, deepening poverty and inequality, and, not least, a disastrous response to a recent earthquake should unquestionably face electoral nemesis.
In doing so, Erdogan’s supporters are also discrediting the assumption, long held by journalists and political analysts, that the rule of law, civil liberties, a free press, and a productive market economy are universal goods desired by all, and people denied them will necessarily seek a change of regime.