Foreign direct investment in Turkey: Historical constraints and the AKP success story

Abstract

Economic development on an unambiguously national basis was one of the foundational principles of republican Turkey. Indeed, until very recently, foreign direct investment (FDI) was scant and had a marginal presence in the Turkish economy. Since Turkey's Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi-AKP) came into power in 2002, however, Turkey has generated more FDI than in the previous 20 years. Here, Grigoriadis and Kamaras examine closely this development.