Open to all.
Abstract:
This paper critically analyzes contemporary populist authoritarianism by examining the ideas of Carl Schmitt. His ideas resonate in today's political landscape, finding expression in leaders such as Trump, Orbán, and Erdoğan. The study specifically focuses on the events in Turkey over the last two decades to demonstrate how Schmitt's unique conception of democracy, referred to as the Schmittian logic, helps make sense of the global rise of populist authoritarian regimes, leading to a distortion of the grammar and vocabulary of democracy. Schmitt's framework portrays democracy as a political system where both rulers and the ruled share a substantive identity. At the heart of this relationship is the community's capacity to establish its political boundaries by identifying those considered enemies that pose a threat to the community's political existence. Schmitt argues that without a clear distinction between insiders and outsiders, a community cannot adopt a democratic political form. Applying Schmitt's framework enhances our understanding of the connection between populist authoritarian regimes and the masses. It sheds light on rationalizations of populist authoritarian leaders’ direct appeal to the will of the people and homogeneity, bypassing positive law, established institutional checks, and the pursuit of pluralism. The implication of this argument is that we must understand the underlying Schmittian logic that organizes politics to address the problems stemming from this framework.
This seminar is jointly arranged together with the transport research group