THE LIBERAL PARADIGM IN THE DEVELOPMENT-DEMOCRACY NEXUS: A COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE TURKISH EXPERIENCE FROM THE REPUBLIC TO THE PRESENT

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between development and democracy through the lens of liberalism, asking whether durable development can be achieved without liberal-democratic institutions. Adopting a historical-comparative approach, it traces Turkey's trajectory from the founding of the Republic to the present and contrasts this experience with the authoritarian growth trajectories of China and Russia, drawing on institutional economics, classical liberal theory, and empirical democratization research together with historical and index-based secondary data. The study argues that development is not reducible to economic growth but constitutes a multidimensional process encompassing education, culture, social welfare, and political participation, and that this process becomes durable primarily where individual freedom, property rights, constitutionalism, and the rule of law are institutionalized. The Turkish case, spanning early Republican statism, post-1980 liberalization, the 2002-2011 reform period, and the subsequent majoritarian turn, illustrates how decoupling economic liberalization from political liberalization produces fragile outcomes. The Chinese and Russian cases show that authoritarian growth can persist temporarily but faces sustainability constraints stemming from insecure property rights and weak institutional accountability. The study concludes that the durability of development depends less on economic liberalization per se than on the liberal-democratic consolidation of political and legal institutions.