Statism and the Cooperative Movement in Early Republican Türkiye: Empowerment and Constraint

Abstract

This article examines the cooperative movement in Early Republican Türkiye (1923–1938) within the intersecting institutional and discursive frameworks of statism. It argues that while the state promoted cooperatives as instruments of rural empowerment, national economic consolidation, and social solidarity, their autonomy was limited by mechanisms such as ministerial approval, state-supervised finance, and rigorous inspection. Although both the number and membership of cooperatives grew rapidly during the 1930s, this growth unfolded under strict administrative and fiscal oversight. The analysis reveals that statism operated through a dual logic: it enabled cooperative expansion via incentives, such as tax exemptions, access to credit, and organizational support, while simultaneously restricting grassroots autonomy through hierarchical control. This duality contributes to debates on state-led development by illustrating how institutional design shapes not only macroeconomic outcomes but also collective organization. It also advances the historiography of cooperatives by clarifying the relationship between the legal frameworks and long-term self-organization.