In the early 20th century, the policy of state socialism was called etatism in several bourgeois countries (seeSTATE SOCIALISM). The term was most widely applied to Turkey. The principle of etatism was adopted by Kemal Atatürk and incorporated into the program of the Republican People’s Party in 1931; it was included in the Constitution of the Turkish Republic in 1937 as an official economic doctrine. The policy of etatism enabled Turkey to achieve accelerated economic development. After World II, however, the big bourgeoisie gained greater influence, and the government of Turkey retreated from etatism; the doctrine of state socialism was supplanted by the theory of the mixed economy.

In the 1960’s, political scientists began speaking about “new etatism.”