https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3637-1236
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ABSTRACT
This article offers a conceptualization for a type of governance that is based on the issue-specific capacity of a government and the barriers erected by this government on the public to access information. We argue that when a government cannot deliver satisfactory performance or lacks the necessary means to manage an issue, it may choose to obscure the reality through various means to hide its incompetence. In this way, the government conceals its poor performance. We look at Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party to exemplify our model, which has had to resort to what we call obscurantist governance.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Koca, “Her Vaka Hasta Degildir.”
2 Tokyay, “Koronavirus Turkiye.”
3 Caspi, “On the Control,” and Lilleker et al., “Political Communication.”
4 Boswell, “How Information Scarcity.”
5 Ibid., 373.
6 Wu, Hanyu, and Yang, “Government Information Disclosure,” 3.
7 Baekkeskov and Rubin, “Information Dilemmas.”
8 Townsend, “The Obscurantism of Science.”
9 Burdick, “The Politics of the Beat.”
10 Elster, “Hard and Soft Obscurantism.”
11 Carr and Leviesley, “Metaphors.”
12 Hawthorne, “The Political Uses of Obscurantism.”
13 Ashbolt, “Postmodernity, Political Correctness.”
14 Duarte, Mazzeu, and Duarte, “The Obscurantist Neoliberal.”
15 Waisbord, “Why Populism is Troubling.”
16 Rigney, “Three Kinds of Anti-intellectualism.”
17 Hawthorne, “The Political Uses of Obscurantism,” 124.
18 Stavrakakis and Katsambekis, “The Populism/Anti-populism.”
19 Duarte, Mazzeu, and Duarte, “The Obscurantist Neoliberal,” 731.
20 Holzner and Holzner, Transparency in Global Change.
21 Almanzar et al., “Demographic Profile,” and Roberts, “Three Kinds.”
22 For example, see Baekkeskov and Rubin, “Information Dilemmas.”
23 Fukuyama, What is Governance.
24 Levitsky and Way, “Competitive Authoritarianism.”
25 Durante, “The Democratic Governance.”
26 Heald, “Varieties of Transparency.”
27 Coppedge et al., “V-Dem Codebook.”
28 Goc Idaresi, Yillik goc raporlari.
29 Goc Idaresi, Gecici koruma.
30 Multeciler Dernegi, “Turkiye’deki Suriyeli sayisi.”
31 Rhoads, Borge-Holthoefer, and Solé-Ribalta, “Measuring and Mitigating,” and Adali, “Demographic Profile.”
32 Kirac, “Duzensiz Gocten.”
33 Kucuk, “Hangi Ulkede Kac Afgan.”
34 Danis, “Iktidar multecilerde belirsizligin.”
35 Kaplan, “329 Kayıp Başvurusu.”
36 NetBlocks, “Twitter restricted in Turkey.”
37 BirGün, “Bir Acil Müdahale.”
38 Euronews. “Turkiye’de koronavirus.”
39 Kurgan, “Turkey and COVID-19.”
40 IMF, Policy Responses.
41 Koca, “Her Vaka Hasta Degildir.”
42 Hakan, “Bakan Koca’ya Cin asisi.”
43 Saymaz, “Cin asisini ucuz diye.”
44 Cumhuriyet, “Saglik Bakanligi’nin acikladigi Covid-19.”
45 BirGün, “Rakamlarin inandirici olmadigini.”
46 TTB, “Covid-19 pandemi sureci.”
47 Cumhuriyet, “Bunlar icin dolar kazanmak.”
48 DISK, “Yasak kalkti.”
49 Adiguzel, “Truth or dare.”
50 Cruz and Medeiros, “Obscurantism, Denialism.”
51 Gingsburgh, Sergio, and Pestieau, “Populism and Social Polarization.”
52 Tornberg et al., “Modeling the Emergence.”
53 Grigoriadis, “The Turkish Presidential.”
54 Kaya and Sunar, “The Culture Wars.”
55 Kocer and Bozdag, “News-sharing Repertoires.”
56 Ekmekci, “Turkish ‘Politics of Intention’.”
57 Waisbord, “Why Populism is Troubling.”
58 Paul, “Populism and ‘Unpolitics’.”
59 Bergmann, Conspiracy & Populism.
60 Silva, Vegetti, and Littvay, “The Elite is Up to Something.”
61 Eberl et al. “From Populism to the Pandemic.”
62 Cordonier, Cafiero, and Bronner, “Why are Conspiracy Theories.”
63 Shadmehr and Bernhardt, “State Censorship.”
64 Zannettou et al., “Who Let the Trolls Out.”
65 Wallace and Van Fleet. “The Democratization.”
66 Kayaoglu, “Determinants of Trust.”
67 Almanzar et al., “Demographic Profile.”
68 Durante, “The Democratic Governance,” 12.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Huseyin Zengin
Huseyin Zengin is currently Visiting Lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests are political violence, civil–military relations, and democratization. His work has appeared in Democratization, Research & Politics, Mediterranean Politics, Studies in Comparative International Development and Turkish Studies.
Hakan Ovunc Ongur
Hakan Övünç Ongur is Professor of Political Thought at the TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Turkey. He is the author of Consumer Society, Neurotic Culture and Fight Club (2011) and Minorities of Europeanization: The New Others of European Social Identity (2014). He also has contributed several articles and book chapters delving into his research interests, including contemporary political thought, the interplay between cultural production and politics, nationalism, and Turkish politics.