Islamic vs. Secular Business Interests: Towards Turkey’s New State Spaces

Abstract

This study investigates the new power balances in Turkey's new state spaces by looking at the new alignments that have been confronting the historically constituted secular capitalists. Through the emergence of Anatolian Tigers and the institutional/organizational capacity they have been engendering, this study aims to assess the extent to which Turkish business climate is inflicted with a transformation between "a secular, Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association (TÜSİAD) led historically established business interests and conservative, Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD), Association of Anatolian Businessmen (ASKON), Turkish Confederation of Industrialists (TUSKON) and Industrialists and Businessmen Associations (SİADs) led entrepreneurial activism". While there have been efforts to distill a 'new' mode of economic development for Turkey, its dynamics and form are still debatable. In this picture, the post-2002 Justice and Development Party (AKP) era and the emergence of new state spaces represent the prioritization of economic interests over others, resulting in a concerted but yet competitive business climate unlike the previous era. Then, what are the peculiarities of this new era and how can these peculiarities be better understood to make more sense of the emerging business climate in Turkey?