Abstract

Even though there are many differences between US and Turkish politics, the era of Trump in the United States and Erdogan in Türkiye are quite similar. Under these leaders, both countries experienced increased polarization in their respective societies. In this article, I propose to address the following question: What are the common factors that led to the rise of Trump and Erdogan? In this article, using Mill’s most different systems method, I argue that preceding economic crisis, grievance-based politics, and outsider status might be strong factors that resulted in a shift from class-based politics to value-based politics in both countries, leading to the elections of Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I also argue that value-based politics tend to overlap with populist authoritarian policies, which further the polarization of the respective societies.