The effects of the linkage and the leverage over countries that either go through a democratic transition or further advance on the democratization path have been widely discussed by comparative democratization scholars. Western leverage designates governments’ level of vulnerability in the face of foreign pressure for democratization, while linkage is meant to be the intensity of the connections and the cross-border streams between a democratizing country and the Western world. It is generally acknowledged that the linkage is a more determinative factor than the leverage. On the contrary, the authoritarian shifts of many countries that took place during the first two decades of the 21st century challenged the optimistic and deterministic role assigned to linkage. Turkey is a noteworthy example in this regard since the intensity of its linkage to Europe could not compensate the negative effects of a declining leverage over Turkish democratization since 2006. The argument that linkage matters more than leverage does not apply to Turkey. The evolution of domestic political regimes in European Union candidate countries in parallel with their accession processes constitutes separate cases differing from one another. Turkey is not only a separate case for its part, but also a unique one.

比较民主化学者广泛讨论了这种联系和对经历民主转型或进一步推进民主化道路的国家的影响。西方杠杆表明政府在面对外国民主化压力时的脆弱程度，而联系意味着民主化国家与西方世界之间的联系和跨境流动的强度。人们普遍承认，联系是比杠杆更具决定性的因素。相反，许多国家在 21 世纪头 20 年发生的威权转变对赋予联系的乐观和确定性作用提出了挑战。在这方面，土耳其是一个值得注意的例子，因为其与欧洲的联系强度无法弥补自 2006 年以来对土耳其民主化影响力下降的负面影响。关于联系比影响力更重要的论点不适用于土耳其。欧盟候选国国内政治体制的演变与其加入进程并行，构成了彼此不同的独立案例。土耳其不仅是一个单独的案例，而且是一个独特的案例。欧盟候选国国内政治体制的演变与其加入进程并行，构成了彼此不同的独立案例。土耳其不仅是一个单独的案例，而且是一个独特的案例。欧盟候选国国内政治体制的演变与其加入进程并行，构成了彼此不同的独立案例。土耳其不仅是一个单独的案例，而且是一个独特的案例。