Consolidation of hybrid regimes: Turkey and Hungary

This research aims to explore the consolidation of hybrid regimes and questions under which conditions hybrid regimes maintain their coexisting authoritarian and democratic structures. It seeks to deepen the understanding of the stabilizing effect of political institutions in hybrid regimes and also aims to identify common stabilizing paths. Like the Roman Mythological God of Janus which sits at the conjunction of two antagonistic worlds, hybrid regimes stand in a paradoxical state between a closed authoritarian regime and liberal democracy. The concept of hybrid regimes was born out of the 'third wave' democratization literature and navigates a vast gray zone of institutional ambiguities. In this context, the conditions that strengthen mixed structures and ensure stability in hybrid regimes are examined through the examples of Hungary and Turkey. It is assumed that the conditions that ensure the consolidation of hybrid regimes emerge by following similar paths and processes. Although there is no multidimensional model to measure the stability of hybrid regimes in the literature, this thesis applies a six-fold regime consolidation model in two dissimilar country contexts to evaluate the theoretical framework's applicability and develop a generalized understanding of regime consolidation in Hybrid regimes. In order to make a comprehensive and systematic comparison of the Turkish and Hungarian cases, the conditions that ensure stability in hybrid regimes are examined within a six-fold regime consolidation model: (1) The rule of law, check and balance mechanisms, (2) elections and party systems, (3) legitimacy strategies, (4) economic development, (5) civil society and the media, and (6) International integration. The empirical finding of the thesis strongly supports the theoretical framework. The findings suggest that despite having dissimilar historical, geographical, political, institutional, cultural, and demographic characteristics, the hybrid regimes in Hungary, and Turkey, apply similar regime consolidation strategies to stabilize their rule with certain differences. This thesis concludes that the six-fold regime consolidation framework is applicable to diverse hybrid regime contexts and can be used to analyze the consolidation process in hybrid regimes.