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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 cover

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
Quantity
Pre-order. Available Nov 12 2026
$108.00 RRP $120.00 Website price saving $12.00 (10%)

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

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

Acknowledgments

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

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published Nov 12 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Pages 224
ISBN 9781666936476
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Didem Unal

Didem Unal is an academy research fellow at the Fa…

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