Social-ecological reproduction under authoritarian neoliberalism: Disaster management regime in Turkey

In the 21st century, disasters are often read as symptoms of governance failure, even though they largely reflect the structural contradictions of neoliberalism. This article develops the concept of the social-ecological reproductive contradiction of authoritarian neoliberalism to analyze the restructuring of public institutions responsible for social and ecological reproduction toward market-based and security-oriented functions, a reorientation that generates disaster vulnerability and authoritarian backlash against collective action. Using qualitative process tracing, we examine why three shocks in Turkey – the Covid-19 pandemic (2020), the Mediterranean wildfires (2021), and the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes (2023) – became devastating crises despite the country’s historical institutional capacity. We trace this contradiction through three early Republican institutions: the Central Institute of Hygiene, the Turkish Aeronautical Association, and the Turkish Red Crescent, responsible for public health, aerial firefighting, and humanitarian relief. The article advances debates on authoritarian neoliberalism, disaster capitalism, and social reproduction theory, explaining disaster vulnerability beyond governance failure.