Autocratization, permanent emergency rule and local politics: lessons from the Kurds in Turkey

Emergency rule provides opportunities for aspiring autocrats to subvert democratic institutions while still following constitutional rules. There has been a steady rise in the use of emergency this purpose recent years, leading many scholars speak “permanent” rule. Existing explanations permanent focus on national-level factors, completely neglecting role local political dynamics. Our goal is trace how overlooked conditions enable permanency We do so by looking at one particular autocratizing decree province Eastern Turkey that became during its state emergency: removal elected Kurdish mayors and their replacement with state-appointed trustees. draw in-depth interviews, reviews three newspapers, review parliamentary records statements, argue were necessary process. First, was not new policy region, which had long treated as exceptional; secondly, there high levels polarization zero-sum politics around ethno-political divide; thirdly, highly clientelistic. These reinforcing factors created weak municipal government enabled eclipse an centre.