‘ArduMania’ – A Syndrome of Overblown Arrogance

Abstract

This opinion article proposes the term 'ArduMania' for a syndrome of overblown arrogance in political leadership, taking as its case Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom the author calls Arduan. It first recalls the roughly 600-year history of the Ottoman Empire, the defeat of Turkey in World War I and the founding of the republic by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923, which, in the author's account, established a liberal state that joined NATO and developed a successful economy. The author argues that many of these social, cultural and economic achievements, including advances in women's rights and reduced religious control, were reversed after the electoral victory of Erdoğan's party, pointing to the imprisonment of thousands of opponents, the introduction of Sharia customs, military action against the Kurdish population, involvement in the Syrian civil war and damaged relations with Western countries and Israel. The article attributes these developments to arrogance, inflated self-esteem and religious piety, and asks why the Turkish public supported the leader during the 2016 attempt to overthrow him. Referring also to the Arab Spring and the rise of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt, the author concludes that a dictatorship based on religious obsession may impede modern development and lead to regression, and that such behaviour may represent the prototype of a novel syndrome.

Abstract prepared by the editorial office from the full text of the article; the authors did not supply one.