Popular (Dis)content with Economic and Political Globalization in Turkey

Abstract

Popular backlash against globalization in recent years has eroded governments’ commitment to economic openness, multilateralism and international organizations, and thus has contributed to the crisis of the United States-led Liberal International Order. Most research on such backlash has so far focused on developed countries, leaving gaps in our understanding of emerging and developing countries. This paper seeks to fill this gap by focusing on attitudes towards economic and political globalization in Turkey, an emerging middle power. We demonstrate that the Turkish public holds positive views on trade but negative views on international organizations. We also show that confidence in international organizations has declined over time, in parallel with an underlying pessimism towards the United States and the European Union, and elite messaging that has questioned the legitimacy of these organizations.

Keywords

backlash, globalization, international organizations, legitimacy, public opinion

Citation

Umut Aydın and Oya Yeğen, “Popular (Dis)content with Economic and Political Globalization in Turkey”, Uluslararası İlişkiler, Advanced Online Publication, 21 April 2025, pp. 1–22. DOI: 10.33458/uidergisi.1675144

Affiliations

Umut AYDIN Associate Professor, Instituto de Ciencia Política, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago E-Mail: [email protected] Orcid: 0000-0001-7101-6825

Oya YEĞEN Assistant Professor, Sabancı University, Istanbul E-Mail: [email protected] Orcid: 0000-0003-4896-3538