The Kemalist development strategy was put into practice at a time when the old international order was being destroyed and a new one was being constructed. The Kemalist development strategy, which belongs to the common field of political science and economic history, is also problematic for the discipline of international relations in terms of its context. Therefore, in essence, the article deals with an interdisciplinary problem. The Kemalist development strategy is a topic that attracts attention today as much as it did at the time of its implementation. This article aims to answer four questions. The first is to examine the relationship between the change of international order and the rise of Kemalists to power and the development strategy it implemented. The article analyzes what constitutes a change in the international order and examines the rise to power of the military-civilian bureaucratic elite, the Kemalists, in its historical context. Second, it outlines the rationale for dividing the economic policies implemented by the Kemalist administration from 1923 to 1938 into periods within the historical context and the main features of the strategy implemented. Referring to the vast majority of studies on this subject, the article raises an important question. It aims to provide a clear answer to the question of when and at what juncture the Kemalist administration implemented the development strategy that envisaged import-substitution industrialization. The third is to show how state intervention in the economy, which constituted the backbone of the Kemalist development strategy, was realized. Fourth is to discuss how the dissension within the Kemalist leadership over étatism can be interpreted. The article re- examines historical information with contemporary interpretations. The main purpose of the article is to provide a holistic analysis. The article argues that the Kemalist development strategy is not a third way, but an alternative development strategy within the capitalist system.