Main Content

Organized Anti-Feminism and Authoritarianism in the Middle East: The Case of Turkey

This project examines the anti-feminist policies of authoritarian states in the Middle East and North Africa since the early 2010s, using Turkey under the Justice and Development Party as its primary case study.

The research identifies three intertwined processes central to the making of anti-feminist policy: the deepening of socio-economic crisis, the bottom-up mobilization of organized anti-feminist groups, and the growing responsiveness of state institutions to those groups. Rather than explaining anti-feminism solely through the lens of political Islam or reactions to colonialism, the project proposes a feminist political economy approach — contributing both to Middle Eastern studies and to broader international debates on the links between authoritarianism and anti-feminism.

Duration: 2022–2024 
Funding: Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts
Principal Researcher: Dr. Funda Hülagü