Transformative Accumulation Under Dominant-Party Rule: Turkey’s CHP and the Making of a Viable Opposition

How do opposition parties become viable alternatives under dominant-party rule? Existing studies often attribute opposition change to electoral shocks or short-term campaign strategies, offering limited insight into how governing capacity is constructed under asymmetric political conditions. This article introduces the concept of transformative accumulation to analyze the recent trajectory of Turkey’s Republican People’s Party under the long-standing dominance of the Justice and Development Party. Drawing on 13 elite-level interviews with incumbent and former party officials, campaign consultants, and local leaders, the study identifies three interwoven narratives—ideological, institutional, and leadership—that structure this transformation. It shows how the Republican People’s Party recalibrated its ideological appeal, adopted a more inclusive leadership model, and strengthened its administrative and communicative capacities despite persistent institutional constraints. While acknowledging the continued structural advantages enjoyed by the Justice and Development Party, the article demonstrates how opposition parties can reposition themselves as viable alternatives within competitive authoritarian regimes. Conceptually, it shifts the analysis of opposition politics away from episodic electoral moments toward a process-based framework for studying opposition agency under dominant-party rule.