TODAY’S MESOP EDITORIAL (II) : Militocracy, Democracy, Kleptocracy & Conspirocracy / Ankara Strateji Org

18 Mart Salı, 2014 – Assoc. Prof. Haluk Özdemir – hozdemir@ankarastrateji.org  – It is commonly held that there are two types of regimes: democracy and non-democracy. However, Turkey’s adventure and other examples of democratization in the world show that there can be other systems of government. For last the few years, under a discourse of “normalization,” it was claimed that Turkey became a democratic country. Moreover, it had a more advanced democracy than the European level. Democracy would be developed more along the lines of the Ankara Criteria instead of the EU-Cophenagen Criteria. The basis of these ideas was that military custody had been abolished and civilian goverment had come into power.

“Militocracy” means a regime in which political power is held by soldiers and the military, who make the most important and final decisions for a country. There are many examples of this kind of regime, especially in the Middle East and in the non-Western world. Turkey has also passed through these stages. The fundamental character of these regimes is that either the military holds power directly, or it comes into power by means of coups whenever they deem it necessary. Civilians are allowed to remain in power as long as they behave according to the dictates of the military’s vision for the country. But there is no doubt that the military holds the ultimate reins of power.

In Turkey, the political regime was criticized for being a “militocracy” until recently. A verdict had been reached that Turkey was a civilian democracy when the effects of the military had on power were dissolved and elected civilians made the final decisions. However, the debates about what exactly democracy is have not ended. As I emphasized in the previous articles, some people in Turkey perceive democracy as a system of government where civilians who represent the majority and come to power through popular elections can do whatever they want. Whereas democracy does not only mean majority rule, it has to be based on a pluralist understanding that defends the rights of the minority. Because the essence of democracy is justice, not the domination by or mercy of the majority. Because of this, the principle of separation of powers is the most important insurance for a democratic regime.

Is this democratization or something else?

In Turkey, suspicions about the validity of democracy have become very clear in light of two series of events in recent months. One of them was the Gezi protests.  The harsh response by the government to the protests has left doubts in people’s minds about the status of democracy in Turkey. Instead of hearing the voices of the people in the streets, methods of violence and marginalization were utilized. It has been claimed that these protests are conspiracies  by the “foreign press”, the “interest lobby” and “foreign powers” to weaken the government. Therefore, the reasons for the protests have not been taken into consideration. The protests, that could have easily been calmed, expanded and there have been some deaths and many injured.

The second event was the revelations of high-level corruption scandals that some ministers were involved in. As it is understood, these corruption cases involve interest circles who are organized beyond what we have seen so far, and who are virtually institutionalized. Indeed, these circles reach into the Prime Minister’s cabinet. In a scandal like this, under normal circumstances in democratic governments, it is expected, at least, that these ministers resign and that the government be removed. I will not delve into this, and only assume here that this flaw is a reflection of the level of our democracy. Because we have a political mentality which does not like resignations and taking responsibility, we prefer to accuse “international powers” of being responsible for creating our problems.

The most serious side of all of this is that the allegations of conspiracy were asserted as they were during the Gezi protests. According to this logic, the circles which do not want Turkey to grow and develop, conspired against the government. Consequently, it was more important to concentrate on solving this conspiracy problem. Instead of clamping down on corruption, police were dismissed and reassigned because it was alledged that there are secret gangs operating in all the organs of state power. Well, even if there is a conspiracy like this, had the bribes not been taken? Should it be duly dealt with, or are such occurrences now legal and ordinary? What should our priority be, not the allegations?

Simply said: Corruption and making money by exploiting positions and connections is now normal. The method, that is used to make corruptions legal, has been to scare the people with conspiracy theories. However, it is not called democracy when a country is governed by playing on the fears of the populace. Well, what can we call this?

In political science, a regime in which corruption becomes systemic is called a “kleptocracy”. This word is derived from ” kleptomania”, which is considered a disease that causes one to steal persistently. This type of regime is based on increasing the personal (financial) well-being, status and power of ruling politicians, and if it is necessary, is based on achieving personal gain from public procurement. Administrators use the national treasury as if their own personal safe, distribute the bids as personal salaries, and it is not regarded as strange. Those who do not participate in this scheme are characterized as “incompetent”, instead of “honest”, because it is expected that people adhere to the new operational norm.

If those who are involved in this corrupt behavior are depicted as victims even though their participation in massive corruption is uncovered, and those who uncover the corruption are blamed as a part of a conspiracy, and if there is an attempted cover-up of the corruption that was revealed that regime is called a “kleptocracy.” There is corruption in almost every regime, including democratic ones, however, the level of it and the reactions to it when it is uncovered change from regime to regime. Democracies do not normally forgive corruption when they find out about it, and the political or professional lives of those who are involved in corruption are usually finished. But, kleptocracies treat corruption as if it is normal, and when it is uncovered, they try to cover it up.

In this sense, it is not an exaggeration to say that we have fallen into a kleptocracy trap, not into a journey of democratization in the process of ridding ourselves of militocracy. Yes, military guardianship has been broken off, but is our democracy strong? During both the Gezi Protests and this corruption scandal, and even in the years before, the allegations of a coup and an international conspiracy, that the government constantly mentions, shows that the regime cannot be described as merely a ” kleptocracy”.  At most, It can be called ” conspirocracy” to manage a country by constantly fabricating new fears for people and attracting attention to unproven domestic coups  and shadowy international groups. At this point, “conspirocracy” seems like a strategy which guarantees the continuation of kleptocracy. If every problem that comes up and every dissident that questions the management of the country is presented to the public in conspiratorial terms, it means that country is governed by a “conspirocracy”.

“Conspirocracy” protects its own men even when they make mistakes so that they will not become victims of conspiracy. It brings them to top positions and protects them to keep them there. It uses the expression: “we will not sacrifice our men” to cover the mistakes that are made. Implying that politics is about victimizing the members of the other parties suggests that there is a conspiracy. However, What we should expect from a government is to deal with the wrong-doings not to save people from being politically sacrificed or victimized. Those who engage in corruption and use their positions for their own selfish gain should accept the consequences of their actions, and each person should be in the positions that they deserve.

We have been longing for democracy for many years after experiencing coups, corruption, terror and social conflicts, but now when we look behind us, we understand that we have not been able to make any progress at all. First, we need to get rid of the regimes of “kleptocracy” and “conspirocracy”, that keep us under control through the tactics of fear-mongering, in order to gain ground on the road to democracy. We need to have a regime in which everybody is in a position that they deserve (meritocracy) and those who use their positions and names for their own personal gain suffer the consequences for their acts. In this regard, maybe the aim is not “to protect” or “not to protect”, but it is clear that we need a major house cleaning. http://www.ankarastrateji.org/en/columnist/assoc-prof-haluk-ozdemir/militocracy-democracy-kleptocracy-and-conspirocracy/