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The Crisis of Democracy, Anti-Gender Politics, and Feminist Resistance
Islam and Gender in the Age of Right-Wing Populism and Authoritarianism in Turkey
- Open Access
The Crisis of Democracy, Anti-Gender Politics, and Feminist Resistance
Islam and Gender in the Age of Right-Wing Populism and Authoritarianism in Turkey
- Open Access
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Description
This open-access book examines the entanglement of authoritarianism, right-wing populism, and anti-gender politics through an in-depth analysis of Turkey under the rule of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP). It argues that anti-gender politics is not merely a backlash against women's and LGBTI+ rights, but a constitutive axis of authoritarian rule that legitimizes exclusion and repression in defense of the nation, family, and children. The book conceptualizes this process as moralized authoritarian rule, in which political authority is justified through moral binaries and sacralized institutions such as the family. It analyzes the Islam-gender nexus as a key site where religion, nationalism, and gender converge to produce authoritarian politics. Moving beyond state-centric accounts, the book introduces the concept of an Islamist anti-gender power bloc to show how state institutions and Islamist mobilizations co-produce anti-gender agendas. It also examines feminist counter-movements as key sites of resistance and coalition-building under conditions of democratic erosion. By theorizing anti-gender politics within an Islamist authoritarian regime, the book illustrates how gendered moral projects sustain authoritarian rule while feminist counter-forces generate alternative democratic imaginaries.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Authoritarian Strategies Behind Gender Regime Change: Institutional, Ideational, and Discursive Shifts
Chapter 2: Co-producing the Anti-gender Regime: Islamist Hardliner Mobilizations and Their Symbiotic Alliance with the AKP
Chapter 3: KADEM's Gender Complementarity Vision: Navigating Power Dynamics in the Islamist Anti-gender Bloc
Chapter 4: Feminist Activism in the Face of Rising Anti-gender Politics: Challenges, Interpretive Repertoires, and Strategies
Chapter 5: Intersectional Solidarities and Feminist Memory Work as Practices of Hope Under Authoritarianism
Conclusion
References
About the Author
Product details
| Published | 12 Nov 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Hardback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 224 |
| ISBN | 9781666936476 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Dimensions | 229 x 152 mm |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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This important book provides a timely and insightful analysis of the intersection between authoritarianism, anti-gender politics, and feminist resistance in Turkey. By examining how right-wing populists weaponize gender and religion to undermine democracy, Didem Unal reveals the global dimensions of a local struggle that resonates far beyond Turkey's borders. Brilliantly capturing the tensions between religious conservatism, nationalist rhetoric, and feminist mobilization, the book shows that de-democratization is highly gender-dependent. The author provides a critical framework for understanding the erosion of democratic norms in the face of rising right-wing populism. It is essential reading for scholars, activists, and policymakers seeking to navigate the complexities of gender, power, and resistance in the twenty-first-century world.
Elzbieta Korolczuk, University of Warsaw and Södertörn University, Sweden

























