President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has now been at the helm of Turkish politics for over twenty years, slowly reguiding Turkey's once pro-Western future in a highly authoritarian direction. A NATO ally, Erdoğan's authoritarianism and grandstanding diplomatic pursuits have damaged Turkey's relationship with the West, and in particular, the United States.

Yet despite much optimism earlier this year that he might be pushed out by an opposition coalition, Erdoğan has hung on.

To dicuss this topic, The World Upfront has brought on Professor Henri J. Barkey, Cohen Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University and Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Professor Barkey is author of an illuminating piece in the most recent Foreign Affairs, entitled "Erdogan the Survivor: Washington Needs a New Approach to Turkey's Improviser and Chief."