Political leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in selected analytical categories

Abstract

The aim of the article is to define the political leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and present the attributes and factors which primarily influenced the effectiveness of his leadership in the Turkish society. Erdoğan has a strong and unquestioned position in his own party, as well as on the Turkish political scene. For a significant part of the society, he is an irreplaceable person and the best leader in the history of the country. Factors which have a major influence on his success are of social, economic and cultural nature. He is a leader, who can easily turn a crisis to his own advantage and convince his followers to support his own arguments. Erdoğan’s activities, which were firmly focused on economic issues, health care reforms and Turkey’s integration with the European Union, enabled him to gain the support of even this part of the society whose values are distant from the ones he accepts. At the same time, he represents a confrontational attitude towards political opponents and often expresses his reluctance towards them.

Keywords

• Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
• political leadership
• leadership attributes
• charismatic leadership
• European Union membership
• Turkey