Legitimation Strategies of Contemporary Authoritarian Regimes: the Cases of Russia and Turkey

Legitimacy has been one of the most important and fundamental concepts for the study of political power. In 1991 the collapse of the Soviet Union has provided the grounds to talking about “the end of history” (Fukuyama, 1992) as a worldwide triumph of democracy. Along with this process, it was expected that democratic institutions would become the main source of legitimacy in the world. However, in spite of widespread democratic expansion in the 20th century, the share of non-democratic regimes remains more than significant: according to the Polity4 Project and Freedom House, about 40% of countries are defined as non-democratic, making up 60% of world population. Meanwhile, these authoritarian regimes became more adaptive and resilient. How contemporary authoritarian regimes claim for legitimacy? This master thesis aims to explore the legitimation strategies of contemporary authoritarian regimes through the lens of Vladimir Putin' regime in Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan's regime in Turkey.