Beyond false dichotomies: Chinese investments and the reproduction of neoliberal authoritarian developmentalism in Turkey

This article critically examines Chinese investments and investment finance in Turkey. Drawing upon a critical International Political Economy framework, and in distinction from conventional approaches to China’s rise in general and the political economy of Turkey-China relations in particular, the paper argues that Chinese capital fits into the pre-existing characteristics of capitalism in Turkey and contributes to the reproduction of neoliberal authoritarian developmentalism. From a labour-centred and socio-environmental perspective, the article shows that Chinese investments have contributed to a fossil-fuel-based, extractivist regime of capital accumulation, while benefiting from a neoliberal-authoritarian labour regime that has shaped Turkey’s political economy since the AKP’s early years. Chinese capital has also adapted to institutional configurations shaped by (dependent) financialisation, privatization, and public-private partnerships, while expanding the dynamics of platform capitalism. By foregrounding these neglected dimensions of the political economy of Turkey-China relations, the article contributes to debates on state capitalism, South-South investments, and authoritarianism.