1-Technological Disruption: “Agentic AI” and Digital Serfdom
The excitement of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in 2025 is giving way to the era of Agentic AI in 2026. These systems no longer just answer questions; they can execute complex workflows (banking transactions, supply chain management, legal processes) without human supervision.
-The Deepening of Techno-Feudalism:
Big Tech platforms will continue to behave like modern “overlords” with their capacity to process data. In 2026, we will see these platforms interfering more and more in the sphere of sovereignty of states (digital currencies, judicial algorithms).
-The New Dimension of Surveillance Capitalism:
With the increase in the “emotional intelligence” capabilities of artificial intelligence, it is expected that we will move to a model where rent is extracted not only from consumers' behavior but also from their momentary emotional states.
2-Global Economy:
“Resilience” and Geo-economic Fragmentation
While the global economy will grow modestly at around %3.1 in 2026, the focus will shift from productivity to resilience.
-Friend-shoring:
Global supply chains will be restructured not on cost but on geopolitical trust. This could deepen the economic cold war between the blocs.
-Stagflation Light:
There could be an “interim period” in which inflation remains slightly above targets in advanced economies due to the costs of energy transformation and rising defense spending, but the recession is not fully realized.
Turkey's Reflection of 2026
For Turkey, 2026 will be a year when the search for macroeconomic stability and technological transformation (digital sovereignty) intersect.
-Growth and Inflation Balance:
Uluslararası kuruluşlar (IMF, Dünya Bankası) Türkiye için %3.5 – %4.0 bandında bir büyüme öngörüyor. Enflasyonun ise 2025’teki sıkı para politikasının gecikmeli etkisiyle %20’li seviyelere oturması, ancak hayat pahalılığının yapısal nedenlerle (kira, gıda) bir süre daha hissedilmesi bekleniyor.
-Middle Corridor and Logistics Power:
The “near-shoring” trend in global supply chains will continue to keep Turkey as an indispensable production base for Europe. In particular, the green energy and electric vehicle (Togg and its subsidiary industry) ecosystem could be the engine of growth.
-Technological Hegemony Exam:
“The issue of the ”role of the state" also applies to Turkey. While trying to maintain its digital sovereignty with domestic artificial intelligence models and data centers, Turkey will be under pressure from global technology capital (techno-feudal structures) to become a market area.
An Analytical Synthesis:
From my perspective, in the context of my thesis “The Hegemony of Capital”, 2026 will be the year when nation states attempt to enact tougher laws (similar to the EU AI Act) on taxation of technological cartels (platform lords) and data security. But how successful will this be in the face of the fluidity of capital? This opens up a new organizing space for left politics: The defense of the “Digital Commons”.
In 2026, Turkey may face a situation where economically ’the dust has settled“ but technologically ”new dependency relations“ are being defined.
In the light of these insights, it is also possible to make a more in-depth analysis of the reflections of the concept of “techno-feudalism” on the labor market in Turkey (gig economy, remote work).