In its single chapter this introductory part covers the research problem, deriving from it a set of research questions, lays out the methodology and its theoretical underpinnings, and outlines the book’s overall structure. Firstly, by focusing on the period since the so-called “authoritarian turn” it problematises the prominent critical-liberal approachCritical-liberal approach and its updated versionsUpdated versions, which represent the dominant understanding of the recent authoritarianism and thus state–society relations in Turkey. It highlights these approaches’ methodological limitations by opening up an alternative and holistic approach. Secondly, it addresses the nature of the extensive documental data collected on the phenomena discussed in the book and the methodology and theoretical framework used to analyse these data. Thirdly, it sets out the organisation of the book, giving the broad subjects of each part and the titles and specific foci of the individual chapters therein. In doing so, it maps out a systematic stream, detailing how the main problematics and research questions of the book are to be unfolded as we flow chapter by chapter, part by part, from introduction to conclusion.