'Hybrid democratic capitalism' or a desire for 'monarchy'?

The issue of the presence or absence of democracy is undoubtedly a problem inherent to capitalism as well. Unlike its archaic, expansionist, and later classical imperialist practices in the 19th century, contemporary capitalism, while achieving a dozen advancements in issues concerning children, women, slavery, and race, also desires democracy "as much as possible" through its institutional structure.

Nation-states, including our late-capitalizing country, are content with following these democratic trends. We know that neoliberal economic policy accepts the governance mechanism in late-capitalist countries through hybrid democracy.

Organizations like the G7 almost encourage hybrid democracy because it makes governance easier. This points to a capitalism with a weak institutional structure approaching authoritarianism, where the public's demands are ignored in the decision-making mechanism. Thus, the habits brought by 19th-century monarchy-like structures are being re-implanted into late-capitalizing countries. In fact, since governments in many countries, including Turkey, draw strength from this phenomenon, they have increased anti-democratic practices to maintain their own rule.

We observe that this deviation from democracy has a framework that stems not only from the government but also from the cultural structure and encompasses the opposition as well.

For example, the trustee-like structure that emerged through nullity within the main opposition in Turkey, which dismissed provincial chairs who were exercising their (Chartist) democratic rights and collecting signatures for a party congress on the same day, is an autocratic stance against democracy. Yet, contemporary capitalism has embraced Chartism as a mechanism of democracy for nearly 400 years.

It is certain that inflation, hovering around 30 percent, is fueling this fire, the budget deficit has exceeded 1 trillion in the first six months, and social demands are rising steadily because there is no desire to allocate resources to the working class. The problem is that these rising demands cannot meet with democratic mechanisms.

AT THE BORDERS OF AN AUTHORITARIAN REGIME

Turkey ranks 102nd globally in the The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) index. When examined on a point basis, the decline in sub-categories such as electoral processes and pluralism, the functioning of government, and civil liberties leads the country to remain in a hybrid structure close to the border of an authoritarian regime, below the "flawed democracy" category.

The speed of democracy's transformation into a hybrid over the last five years may have cost Turkey 100 billion dollars—through the reserves channel—but more importantly, it has led foreign capital to largely abandon long-term investment. There is an effort to replace resources coming from Western capitalism with Gulf (Middle Eastern) capital. We know that Gulf capital is more inclined toward monarchy than democracy and is in a weak position regarding high technology. When they bring money, it is also possible to see that, with tax advantages, the money they bring will be spent to provide inputs for imports and will be non-productive and profit-oriented.

China's BYD car brand's decision to abandon its investment in the Aegean region reminded us of the Volkswagen company, which had previously decided to produce in the same place and then gave up. It is also known that mergers and acquisitions through existing firms will not strengthen the capital structure in the country or increase employment.

Why then the insistence on the hybrid?

Let us not perceive the answer to this merely as falling into the trap of the West, which sees monarchy as a solution. The real reason is the stagnation of late-capitalist governance.

Democracy is a long and painful road; let us acknowledge that capitalism has brought democracy to a certain extent and has made significant progress compared to the 19th century. However, some things never change. Just as imperialist practices, which gave their first signs in the 19th century and then spread rapidly, supported dictatorial regimes, especially in Africa, today Western capitalist structures can still find monarchy and hybrid democracy suitable for peripheral countries, even if they do not resemble their own political economy. When oil prices rise with the Iran crisis, Gulf capital may want to entrust its security to hybrid democracy, but it also tends to carry its monarchist structure with its own habits and perspective.

INSTITUTIONAL REGRESSIONS

If we look at the rule of law, which we can show as the infrastructure of Turkey's (hybrid) democracy, it is determined to be in 118th place out of 143 countries according to the WJP Rule of Law Index (World Justice Project). According to the current data of the World Justice Project, Turkey is in the same group as countries like Russia and Nigeria. A very serious institutional regression, especially under the headings of "Constraints on Government Powers" and "Fundamental Rights" (there is a decline to 134th place in this category), determines its position in the index.

Finally, according to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, Turkey is in 124th place out of 180 countries. Turkey's index score has systematically fallen, remaining well below the world average (42 points). This decline in the level of transparency and accountability is one of the gray areas that institutional foreign capital fears the most. The threat of expropriation must also be considered within this framework.

The withdrawal of long-term manufacturing and technology capital from Turkey and its replacement by short-term hot money or real estate investment is occurring in tandem with the decline in law and democracy indices. Moreover, with the instability in portfolio investments, it is observed that the foreign share in the stock market and real estate is gradually shrinking.

As long as structural reforms that will raise the level of democracy and legal guarantees are not established, it seems macroeconomically difficult to improve the quality of incoming capital. It is already observed that the real sector confidence index has not been able to reach the 2021 level. The fluctuations in the MSCI Turkey index constitute significant evidence of this phenomenon. Other reasons, such as the loss of momentum in the upward trend in exports and the loss of some markets to China, can also be added.

The fact that pensions and the minimum wage remain below the living wage, that private school teachers work for very low salaries, that precariousness and high inflation lead to low salaries and wages, and the gradual adoption of the concept of a security state show that hybrid democracy is approaching authoritarian limits. The economy that emerges from this cannot sustain either its productivity or its economic growth in a stable manner.

Moreover, while the habit of seeing democracy as a basic need like bread and water has developed among the people over the years in the Atatürk Republic, standing against this only increases chaos. "Hybrid democracy" does not give the people hope or peace without providing independent courts that ensure the justice of the law and the right to the presumption of innocence, without fully realizing the freedom of assembly and demonstration on legitimate grounds, without increasing transparency to prevent corruption, and without ensuring intra-party democracy.

In summary, the hybrid is costing this country dearly and making it unhappy. There is a need for politics and democracy that paves the way for the people, and it is needed urgently and in its truest form, not hybrid...