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Politics, Democracy and Civil Society: Local Governance in Mugla, Turkey
Ramazan Gunlu1
!stract
Democracy and civil society relations in local politics may display signifcant dierenceswhen metropolis, big cities and small or-medium size cities are considered. In Turkey,through the years o !""#-!""$, several changes have been made in the legislationrelated to local governance within the ramework o the reconstruction o administration.The local elections which were last held in !% &arch !""$ in Turkey are to be renewed in!% &arch !""%. The implementation process o the new arrangements has createdchanges in the dynamics o local politics and democracy in Turkey, and has obligatorilyempowered and activated civil society organizations under the new legislative measures.
In this paper the interaction between local political social actors is discussed within theconte't o changing state-society relations in Turkey rom the (%%"s on. In this paper,)ithin the ramework o a study carried out in the regional city o &ugla, civil societystructure and its transormation is investigated and its eect on local politics is evaluated.&ugla is a centre which shares many o the issues also e'perienced at state level whenmanaging regional governance where local politics has a strong and powerul dynamics.
This paper aims to highlight such issues by placing emphasis on the local politicalrelationships with civil society and nongovernmental organizations *+s during thelocal election process. In order to analyze the situation o the actors created by the newlegislation, a data set is defned and coded and interviews carried out with the heads oorganizations in their relations with the local political sphere, while local political actors
are analyzed comparatively.
In this analysis, the eect o local social problems on the political actors are identifed bycomparing the characteristics o governance politics within the local political sphere toitsinstitutional results, and characteristics o the legislative measures arranging the politicalsphere in Turkey are analyzed and evaluated within a national and global conte't.
"ey#ords: Democracy, Civil Society, Local Governance, Turkey
(/ssist. 0ro. Dr. 1amazan unlu, &ugla 2niversity 3conomics and /dministrative4ciences, Dept. 0ublic /dministration, 5otekli 5ampusu, &ugla, Tel. ""%" !6! !((($7(,8a'9 ""%" !6! !!#:""$, gunlu;mu.edu.tr
(
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Democracy has turned into being one o the most spoiled concepts.
democracy? concept to assess
civil liberty, political participation, opportunities and limitations on social
and political activists. The Democracy problemati@ue emerges in a
comparison between ancient reek democracy and representative
democracy. Aet the )estern 3uropean democracy would be incomplete
unless it is conceptualized without considering its historical aspects.
The political
weight o military? is one o the most debated issues in Turkey under the
!&achpherson *(%:$9 : points out that democracy was a bad thing or ("" years agoE ithas become a good thing or the ollowing 6" yearsE It becomes too vague within the last6" years.
#&orlino pointed out that >The inclusion o Turkey in this group o countries has alreadyprompted debate, and other analysts, especially Turkish scholars, place it amongst theminimal democracies, stressing the great and now longstanding airness o the electoralprocedure, or which 8reedom
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3uropean 2nion harmonization process. This act is interpreted as
limitation o rights and liberties in civil society.
/dvocates o a more powerul governmental capacity or assurance o
liberties, on the other hand, underline the inrastructural capacity whererights are bases upon *8ukuyama, !""69 ((:E &orlino, !""%9 !:", !%#-
!%$. Though the governmental capacity is deemed as the assurance o
rights, human rights going beyond the borders o nation-state have
become de acto-de ure reerences as global norms.
)hile rights and liberties provide an assurance in uncovering potentials o
civil society, their utilization depends on the capacity o institutions which
lay actual oundations or them. Besides the civil society is the domain o
potential and actual actors within socio-ormation o historicity through
sensitivity to religiousFcultural, ruralFurban, socioeconomic partitions, and
internalFe'ternal eects. Today, this domain continues to be shaped on a
national basis under the matri' o globalization and a range o actors
*political, technological, economic, cultural *5riesi et al., !""79 %!#.
/gainst nation-state practice, construction o 3uropean political domainhas become evident as a global act. Though the historical awareness has
been a part o 3uropean consciousness and activities, the rise o populist
right-wing can be e'plained starting rom the losers o globalization.
0artitions through national culture and economy are transerred through
the stage *darstellung o globalization onto the 3uropean political domain.
/ccordingly the political space is restructured not only with its historical
and actual aspects but also with the change o socio-spatial relations. Thisis the e'istence o a new political space, and it changes perception and
assessment o personality and identity *Gaeyrynen, !""#9 #CE 5riesi et al.,
!""79 %!$, %!%, %#C-%#:, %$%-%6(. Gariety o identitiesH being a
prere@uisite or the progress o capital in globalization process should be
interpreted rom this point o view.
/gainst the polarizing and peripherizing eects o globalization, regional
convergences indicate socio-spatial change. This, at the same time, is the
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e'pression o politicization o the space where political elites placed
themselves on the sae side through cooperation against marketization
and degradation o world system *Gaeyrynen, !""#9 $(, $#-$6. 0olitical
organization o the space changed enlightenment sources o subects and
political activists. In spite o global inormation ow, national political
elites, political parties and non-governmental organizations still @uarrels
within national borders *5oopmans and 0etsch, !""#9 #". )hile
supranational communication oreshadows new subects and activity
potentials in supranational space, this space is reshaped under interaction
o historical conrontations.
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society is the feld where political subects transormed or re-generated
under orce and violence together with moral and intellectual leadership.
This, on the other hand, is related to building o a certain polity and
citizenship orm. This is the struggle o political subect on the base o
autonomy9 this struggle is legitimized in the process o political subectsH
evidencing their grievance or government positions through their political
ormulations with global reerences o >humanity? and >human rights?.
Thus hegemony, counter-hegemony and opposing hegemony orm modes
o e'istence o civil subects in civil society *Kentner, !""69 C#C-C#:, C$#E
0ozo, !""C9 6:-6%E 1anciere, !""C9 C(-C#.
+owadays the civil society is o prime importance in conunction withdemocratization problems. >Livil society is generally conceptualized as the
social space in which a democratic polity is enacted.? The separation
between public and private space play a crucial role in shaping the
political culture in every country. This act revealed the cultural aspects o
democracy. /n active citizen is considered as the re@uisition o a
participatory political community democracy. Democracy and civil
participation have come out to be undamental aspects o civil society andtransormative politics. Identity conte't which turned into being a matter
o participation become a part o democracy problem *Berezin, (%%C9 #-6.
The concept o civil society as the current and the potential is to become
clearer in the e'planation o Lo'. >Livil society, in ramsciHs thinking, is
the realm in which the e'isting social order is groundedE and it can also be
the realm in which a new social order can be ounded. M civil society was generating a orce within itsel thatwould ultimately destroy and change it?. /le'is de Toc@ueville observed
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this civil society orce in municipalities and in volunteer organizations as a
limitation o government and potential or reedomization. ramsci, on
the other hand, dealt with class allies within themselves. The composition
o leadership and grassroots movements would be realized as a hegemony
struggle by means o organic intellectuals *Lo', (%%%9 7-C.
Governance
lobal change process carries the set o concepts *privatization,
localization, autonomy, participation, transparency which will acilitate
e'pansion o capital. )orld Bank, 3LD and 2nited +ations have been theinstitutions which served or world-wide popularization o these policies.
)orld Trade rganization organizes the scope o this process as an
interstate organization. overnance can be e'pressed as the
>commoditization o politics? standing in the center o the set o concepts
mentioned above *uler, !""#aE &ahon and &cbride, !""%9 :$E unlu,
!""%.
3uropeanization concept comprises all-round inventor aspect o 32
*3uropean 2nion analysis. The relation between the 32 and national
authority levels has become an important agenda o country-oriented
researches. /ccordingly eects o the 32 inputs on domestic polity reveal
themselves in the rise o multi-level governance literature within the 32
system *1osamond, !""C9 !$".
Though the governance embraces the politics in *social dialog model,societal subects gain specifc political ability within the network model
through neo-corporatist positioning. It is assumed that network-type
organization with the ability o detecting the political problems and
changing its own course can acilitate >return? o political domain *1ay et
al., !""#9 #%, $(, 66.
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Transparency is one o the eatured terms in governance concept. This
term becomes attractive with actual practices. 3uropeanization? process o public administration. 4o long as the e'pertauthority moves higher up, aecting the policy at 3uropean level has
become a matter o national policy. In this respect, 32 regulations have
gained importance in national policies*
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made to include governmental process *)hitman, !""#9 !77, !7%-!C".
Though the participation o civil society actors is the most emphasized
matter, those which participate into 3uropeanized public domain are
maintaining their traditional participation structures. Thereore, decisions
made at a 3uropean level represent the consensus o party elites
*5oopmans, !""C9 !"$, !"7E 0oguntke et al., !""C9 C6"-C6(, C7$-C76.
3lectricity and gas sector is regulated at 32 level by Directive !""#.
&ember countries establish energy regulation authorities by mimetic and
normative enorcement. The liberalized energy markets e'perience, frst
introduced in 3ngland, has subse@uently e'panded into other countries,
which shows that globalization is a act that depends on politics. /cting assel-representing structures, actors and organizations connect dierent
scales *rom national civil society to global civil society, rom nation-states
to global governance. Thus macro-subects *industries, states, regions,
frms, networks introduce sel-governance, good governance and politics
dialog into global competition by means o e'port orientation. Thus,
politics remain as a local resistance, and governance comes to the ore as
a process hiding the politics *Karner and )alters, !""$9 6":-6("E0edersen, !""79 (""6-(""7.
overnance is the driving orce o reorm process all over the world.
Lonstitutional reorm proect which will govern the competitive
government surrounds multi-actors *governmental, non-governmental,
multi-level *3uropean, national, regional, local governance domain. The
public policy ocuses on a competitive economy flled with market actors.
4upranational actors impose competition conditions as the key element o
economic policy. )hile the governance renders the public policy
>democratic? with the participation o non-governmental actors, it
discredits social solidarity *Lerny and 3vans, !""$9 6%-7#. 0articipative
dialog model can be e'clusionist when it comes to characteristics o
participants and individual dierences *&ayer at al., !""69 (:7, (%", (%7.
:
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Civil Society, Democracy and Governance in Turkey
It is said that civil society is weak in Turkey. 5alaycioglu *!""(9 67-6C
points out, despite o three brie military interventions, >democratic
regime is perceived as unctioning though there are criticisms o itse=ciency or eectiveness by the masses. There seems some evidence
that voluntary non-governmental organizations *+s have started to
receive relatively broad support rom the masses in Turkey. &ost
specifcally, the maor earth@uake disasters o summer and all (%%%
ironically helped promote civic associations providing social services to
earth@uake stricken areas o +orthwestern /natolia.? /ccordingly the
potential o civil society is revealed with the inade@uacy o thegovernment thatmaterialized with the earth@uake.
In spite o recovery in opportunity structure *constitution, laws and
regulations as a result o democratization under the 32 harmonization
*/c@uis, citizens are still beret o courage regarding political participation.
4truggles o youth, women, public employees and other groups relived the
limitations on political participation imposed by the Lonstitution, (%:!.
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democracy, the urban middle class developed authoritarian aptitudes or
ensuring their lie standards and styles. 0ost (%:" coup dHNtat liberal
market conditions orced urban middle class to make a choice between
non-patronage democracy or authoritarianism against patronage
democracy o the urban and rural poor based on populist relations.
Thereore, good governance practice becomes the irony o the
government and a dilemma or Turkey *5alaycioglu, !""(9 7$-77.
This dilemma has become more o an issue during recent years.
overnment-military relations cause democratization and liberalization
through the 32 harmonization regulations, and ollow a course led by
>elects? *0olitical integrity? and >national independence? *in the Kausanne
negotiations are the ounding political ethos o citizenship *IPduygu and
5aygusuz, !""$9 $(, $$. 5emalist elites, the anonymous bearers o nation-
state, established the political ethos o citizenship on >will o civilization?
or which they asked or a national participation *5eyman, !"""9 !($-!(6.
Lonservative cultural nationalist movement nowadays known with their
Bergsonian views on the base o individual enterprise, liberalism andspontaneity is not positivist but has been one o the most important
("
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promoters o Turkish revolution as >the will o civilization? since (%!"s
*Irem, !""!9 %C, ("#-("$, (":. This ideological stream has become the
binder o liberalism and authoritarian government together with Turkish-
Islamic synthesis which is the o=cial ideology o Turkey. 0rolieration o
identities rom civil society is realized under the authoritarian government
mentality *zkazanP, (%%%9 !!-!#. Kiberalization, privatization and
competition under the new route changed the state-economy interaction
and mobilized potentials o civil society. It created the stage where neo-
liberalism, Islam, secular Turkish nationalism and ethno-religious
belongings are updated *5eyman, !"""9 !"C-!":.
>Turkish-Islamic synthesis? could not provide or fctional integrity o thecommunity but together with the socio-economic actors during (%:"s, it
turned into being the most important composition o secular and anti-
secular polarization. uiding principles o 5emalist elites *republicanism,
nationalism, etatism, secularism, populism, and revolutionism-reormism
rom above constituted the base o institutionalism and re-
institutionalization *5eyman, !"""9 !(7. The continuous base o re-
institutionalization has always been the Turkish army, the watchdog o the1epublic. This act orms the parado' o 5emalism9 relying on the army or
5emalist policy and ight rom the civil society caused the Islamic identity
to spread in civil society and thus orming an obstacle or socialization o
5emalist identity. The fctional-structural crisis between 5emalism and the
civil society as a cosmic approach turned the civil society into the source
o legitimacy under the memory o coup dHNtat. Together with overspread
o identity, drawing the >line o identity? has become an e=cient strategyo democracy. therwise, civil society >creates a space or the presence o
Islamic discourse as a pluralist mode o organization o the stateFsociety
interactions *cit. rom 4aribay, 5eyman, !"""9 !!6E 5eyman, !"""9 !(:-
!(%, !!(, !!#, !!C.
The e=cacy gained by Islamic discourse within civil society put religious
symbols orward together with increasing importance o individual
autonomy within the ramework o neoliberal governance. Thereore it is
((
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not incidental that neo-liberalism oered insights or Islamic policy, culture
and economy. Increasing interest o Islamic section in Turkey towards
>civil reedoms? and >human rights? under accession to the 32 can be
assumed as a result o autonomous individual concept *okariksel and
&itchell, !""69 ($:-(6!, (6C-(6%. overnance phenomenon in Turkey
engaged with privatization and elimination o government monopoly and
Islamic revival in civil society *4ezen, !""C9 #!"-#!#, ##".
Government re$orm and criticism on governance in Turkey
There is a long history o state ownership o industry in 3urope involvingnational and regional public corporations, state holdings in private sector
companies and operation through local and central government
departments. / maor e'pansion o state enterprises occurred in the
interwar years and especially ater (%$6. By the late (%7"s a political
consensus e'isted in )estern 3urope avoring the e'istence o a mi'ed
economy began to change ater the 25Hs privatization program *0arker,
(%%:9 ((. n the one hand, the pressures o liberalization o the 32markets and government budgetary di=culties put the governments into
the liberalization processE on the other hand construction o 3uropean
economic area orced them to develop policies at the 32 level. The
3uropean debate on competitiveness associated with advocacy o
deregulation and liberalization as the most e=cacious responses to
globalization *1osamond, !""!9 (7: In this perspective, the 32 policy
directed to shit the relationship between governments and state-ownedutilities has created an economic environment which has led member
states to review the benefts o retaining state ownership *0arker, (%%:9
!#.
The liberalization and deregulation reigning over 3urope is the source o
inuence o public reorm in Turkey. The most remarkable criticism was
made by academicians o /nkara 2niversity, 0olitical 4ciences 8aculty. The
ocus o the criticism can be summarized as ollows9 0ublic reorm is a
(!
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part o I&8 stabilization program and aims 7,6 percent +0 *ross +ational
0roduct surplus. The policy o downsizing the state or >fnancial
deregulation? applied during the (%:"s now emerges as >state adaptation
policy? or >political-administrative deregulation?. Thereore the localist and
privatist governance is not a liberalization towards the needs o the
country and people but the needs o capital *uler, !""#b9 ##. )hile the
main target o the reorm is to circumvent /nkara, its point o support is
the e'pectation and belie that it will ensure growth in local economies.
8air distribution o country resources is essentially the duty o the
government. The main actor that sneakingly corroded Augoslavia which
appeared to be a perect harmonic integration o dierent ethnicities was
the reign o economical instability *Isikli, !""#9 !-#. The reason or
eective participation o T24I/D *Turkish IndustrialistsH and BusinessmenHs
/ssociation and TBB *Turkish 2nion o Lhambers and Lommodity
3'changes, etc. into law-making attempts regarding public reorm and
acilitation o capital movement is the e'pectation or e'tending the space
or the capital movements in accordance with >governance-state?
rationale o )orld Bank. civilization?.
>Livilization? bears such characteristics that may be interpreted as
arrangement o public domain according to private benefts. The most
remarkable e'amples o said >civilization? are Directorate o 4trategy
Development and >4trategy Development Board? acting as consultancy
authorities which are included into Basic 0ublic /dministration Kaw Drat.This Board together with the representatives o private entities and
corporates are the elements o >governance? or >civilization o public
domain? *5arasu, !""#9 7!-7!. 0rivatization and commercialization o
basic public services are intended or civil feld. 4tateHs keeping its hand
o a great many public services will result in direct or indirect privatization
o services through local governments. The unds provided by )orld Bank
or unding services that are transerred rom central government to localgovernments are signifcant indicators or this process. Together with a
(#
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e'ible employment system, rendering services through private sector can
turn into a rule *3rdogdu, !""#9 ($-(6, !!. )ithin this ramework, the
parallelism between localization and privatization o public services is
remarkable. In this conte't, the purposes o Basic 0ublic /dministration
Kaw Drat are in act not localization and democratization but to establish
stations or privatization through the instrumentality o localization
*4onmez and DinlerE !""#9 #$-#6. This very act can be seen in the way o
depredation paved by the recommendation in the )orld Bank 1eports or
integrating the coastal regions in to the >new? economic rationale *Duru,
!""#9 C(-C!.
The integrity o administration principle stipulated in the Lonstitutioncontradicts with the >public reorm?, because the central administration is
in charge as the general supervisor, while the local administrations are in
charge o providing service and organization limited to their geographical
borders or meeting >common re@uirements? o local people. By means o
a custody structure, the Lonstitution e'cludes possibility o dissociating
the local administrations rom the general administration. The Kaw Drat,
on the other hand, does not reer to >common local re@uirements? but frstreers to duties o central administration and then assumes the local
administration as the general authority in charge. This does not include
the relations regarding locality o re@uirements but it is essentially a
general authorization or privatization o public services *5arahanogullari,
!""#9 6!-6C.
Democracy, Civil Society and Local Governance in Mugla
Today, the economic globalization restructured the community and
removed alliances resulting rom class structure. International production
shaped the workorce hierarchically as permanent core workorce
integrated with managing orces, as instable workers segmented
according to ethnicity, religion, gender and geographic characteristics, and
as the outcasts at the bottom. 2nder circumstances where alliances
($
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within themselves are blurred, the civil society witnesses a bottom-up
integration movement. Top civil society cooperating with global capital and
its institutions, on the one hand, and segmented bottom civil society
mobilizing the transorming potential on the other hand are the realities o
hegemony struggle *Lo', (%%%9 %-((.
The hegemony struggle within the civil society takes an important place in
the feld o interest o theoretical approaches and current pluralism coming
to the oreront within local democracy and civil society connection.
0luralist, managerial *)eber and class *&ar' paradigms related to
government assume the change process as a civil society phenomenon.
0luralistic paradigm ocuses on the eect o individuals and individual-based groups on decision-making process o the government. &anagerial
paradigm *)eber ocuses on the eect o bureaucratic structures and
corporate domain on decision-making process o the government. Llass
paradigm criticizes the pluralist and managerial paradigm or neglecting
class aspect, and ocuses on capital accumulationFclass conict. The eect
o private sector e'panded on the feld vacated by the government or
liberalization and marketization purposes puts institutional approachesapplied in )estern welare-states into new contact points *4engul, !""(9
$6-6(.
&anagerial paradigm fnds its e'planation in public choice theory. The
plurality and dierent polity e'pectations o local choices bring about new
income groups, thus re@uiring the government to oer alternative
serviceFta' packages to dierent groups. This means that the government
is re@uired to supply or local demands with numerous local administration
units. )hile said numerous local units will compete or getting the local
people to their side, the local people beneft rom such competition by
means o less ta'es and better service. 0luralist paradigm points out the
necessity o a participative model under the regime theory in incorporation
o current segmented and dissolved urban structures. The role o the
government is no more to act as an arbitrator assumed by classic pluralist
approach but to activate and coordinate the resources under increasingly
(6
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complicated relations. ne o the most important eatures o this
approach is to accept the autonomy attributed to municipal authorities by
managerial paradigm together with considering limitations o macro-level
power relations and economical structures asserted by &ar'ist approach.
In this conte't, while paying attention to structures and relations, the key
decisiveness is implemented by multi-actors o the city. Thus, regimes
advocating stabilization would predominate under power balance,
alliances and e'tensive spatial division o labour. Llass paradigm has
ocused on the concern o winning actual letist structures ater withdrawal
o class conict in the )est and disintegration o the 4oviet system. Lircles
which drited away rom &ar'ist structure are inspired rom pluralist
approach which is based on radicalization and reinorcement o civil
society against central government. 1adicalization o the democracy is not
only the duty o working class but also belongs to non-governmental
organizations which are assumed as the key elements o this process.
&otivating the civil society, on the other hand, is under the responsibility
o the *local government. The most important @uestion arising rom this
method is >why the government should organize such a civil society?. This
can be seen as a new democratic corporatism model. 2ne@ual
development theory, on the other hand, remains in &ar'ist paradigm, and
asserts that the capitalism does not only bring orth economic ine@ualities
but also spatial ine@ualities. 1endering the une@ual development
manageable is an obligation or nation-state. It is not possible or a
homogenous state structure to cope with a non-homogenous spatial
pattern. Thereore local government is not an e'tension o nation-state but
a historical response which is une@ually developed against it with its own
specifcities. It both undertakes regulative roles to get through socio-
spatial ine@ualities and acts as spokesman o local powers. Thus each local
unit is a stratifed socio-spatial ormation within the historicity o the
positions in spatial division o labour held in dierent periods. This
ormation has brought out a local *political culture. Kocal administration
practices represent the centre, on the one hand, and become the
representative o local powers on the other hand *4engul, !""(9 6!-6C.
(7
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Turkish Lonstitution o (%7( did not only provide udicial assurance or
local administration but also commissioned the government with the duty
o providing income sources to local administrations pro rata to their
obligations. Turkish Lonstitution o (%:!, on the other hand, was drated
on an environment where some circles, which have no aith in local
administrations, were present. Thereore, it reects disbelie in local
administration bodies *5eles, (%%#9 (6-(C. The importance o a
constitutional ground supporting peopleHs rights on a participative basis is
evident. /nother phenomenon that has e@ual importance is adoption o
democracy as a lie style. 2ntil @uite recently, an approach which did not
include any political ground or participation was predominant. 4tate and
nation were assumed to be identical concepts. 1egimes where governed
people do not participate into political processes are not deemed to be a
part o democracy concept anymore. 0articipative processes that gained
weight in political science re@uire making a distinction between political
civil organizations and non-governmental organizations. Today, the
regimes where non-governmental organizations are not represented in
participation processes are not deemed to be democratic. /s long as the
ine=ciency o the centre in providing public services necessitates in-site
production and provision o services, e'isting traditional institutions or
municipal administration remain incapable. Thereore, it aims to ensure
e=cacy o participation services together with democracy training, and to
reinorce local democracy. 8or realizing this aim, the actors such as the
willingness o participants, promotersH aith in participation, non-deterrent
eect o the size o community which is interested in the participation are
important with regard to participation *5eles, (%%#9 !"-!!.
/s in >the city ambient sets people ree? phrase, we can say that city lie
orms a proper environment or democracy. In terms o e'perimental
felds, local administrations have an important eect on tendencies o
leaders and politicians that would govern the nation. Kocal administrations
have played an important role not only or politicians but in development
o contemporary participative aspects o democracy by encouraging publicparticipation. /s a ground where political activity eeling is rooted, local
(C
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administrations have played role in promoting the development o political
culture based on participation *ormez, (%%(9 6$-7".
It is evident that the disbelie against local administration should be
overcome or ensuring them to have their real place in democraticdevelopment process *5eles, (%%#9 $:. 0articipative municipality practices
do not date long back to old times. The municipal organization which is
based on common beneft on local scale dates back to (:6$ when Istanbul
4ehremaneti *the local administration acting as municipal constabulary
which dealt with sanitary and landscaping works o the city during
ttoman reign was established. Kocal administration system beore said
date was @uite aint and ambiguous *rtayli, (%%"9 C"-C(. Themunicipality heritage inherited by the 1epublic was restructured by
&unicipal Kaw (6:" enacted in (%#". >3ach city is a matter o state? said
4ukru 5aya, then the minister o interior. This approach has played an
important role on systemizing the central custody, and putting down roots
o custodian mentality until now */lada, (%%"9 (!(. /doption o multi-
party system in (%$7 resulted in political revival. 1uralQurban migration
period, poverty and classifcation under wartime conditions turned citiesinto important political-social phenomena. The rural migration directed
into cities and metropolitans resulted in the collapse o urban services and
rendered the municipalities incapable o producing services *eray, (%%"9
!(C-!!#.
2rban problems coming to the oreront in parallel with the welare state in
the )est caused urban-social movements to be the new actors o the
participation. Thereore, urban movements have been taking an important
place in social movements. &ovements similar to those in 3uropean
countries were observed to take place in Turkey in the (%C"s, as well. The
phenomena observed in Turkish metropolitan and rural areas were
gecekondu *shantytown movements, land and house occupations, radical
local participation e'amples *&unicipality o 8atsa and direct democracy
practices. /s o (%:"s, solidarity-based movements were observed to
become widespread within the ramework o social and spatial bounds.
(:
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Beginning rom the end o (%:"s, these movements emerged as protests
against urban regeneration proects and ine=ciency o urban services.
Beginning rom the (%%"s, the civil society gained importance day by day,
and opened the organization o civil domain into a serious competition
feld. )e can say that political ideologies were rapidly polarized in civil
organization feld. Livil society repositioned itsel against hegemony and
counter-hegemony. 0olitical participation o non-governmental
organizations under urban practices entered into a parallel or contrary
split-up period under ethno-religious, socio-spatial and cultural manners
*unlu, !""(9 $7%-$C#.
/s a result o migration, citizentry associations become more importantollowing the new aspects attributed to network-type organizations. The
network-type lie which introverted people into specifc identities and
relations in abyss o public domain collapsed by liberalization and
privatization turned the citizentry associations into a oothold strategy. /s
a balancing element, they entered into the segmented chaotic urban
spaces where dierent conicts o power relations were staged *5urtoglu,
!"""9 #($-#(C. Thus citizentry associations placed themselves amongmulti-actors o urban lie.
Livil society and participation has entered into Turkish lie as a practical
matter ater the earth@uakes suered in (%%% */ugust (C and +ovember
(! earth@uakes. Incapability o the government triggered intervention o
non-governmental organizations, and promoted oundation o new non-
governmental organizations. /cting as social actors o participation, non-
governmental organizations participate into policy development process
together with political actors. 1evised legislations in Turkey describe the
participation thereo and recommend that such participations should be
promoted. /rticle C7 to &unicipal Kaw 6#%# includes the provision that city
councils will be established by the help and support o municipalities.
2nder said law, the ministry o interior structured the participation by
issuing >Lity Louncils uidelines?. /ccording to /rticle : o said
uidelines, representatives o local administrations *municipality, general
(%
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provincial assembly, &embers o 0arliament o the relevant province,
representatives rom political parties, representatives rom public
vocational institutes, and representatives o civil society will participate
into the Lity Louncil under certain ratios *Loskun, !""C9 ("C-((".
Lonsidering &ugla Lity Louncil, which is active since (%%%, as an e'ample,
it is observed that there has been no will to participate into this council,
and what is more, those who call or participation do not have aith in such
a council. 0olitical cultureHs not being promoting has a negative eect on
unwillingness or participation. The participation is interrupted by certain
reasons such as the weakness o local democracy, ine=ciency o
participation consciousness and its education, novelty o participationphenomenon, absence o conditions which promote and encourage
utilization o rights *okturk and 5avili, @uot. rom !""!, LoRkun, !""C9 ((-
((!. 8urthermore, the provision included in the uidelines stating that
decisions made in the city council will be negotiated in the frst meeting o
municipal assembly assumes that all public services in the city are
produced by the municipality. This practice results in decreasing the
e=ciency, thus participation. Institutionalization and changing localconsciousness would avourably contribute to participation *Loskun, !""C9
((#.
/s a feld o participation and activity, 0rovincial
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dominance o public authority, ailing to ensure participation o non-
governmental organizations which adopt a human rights-sensitive
approach, lack o institutionalization and ailure to promote participation
*4ahin, !""C9 $6"-$6!, $6$-$7(.
The act observed in Lity Louncils and
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public policy. &odern-secular middle class and traditional-conservative
sections conront in socio-spatial domain and politicize the separation o
the society among rural policies */50 and environmentalFtourism policies
*L0olitics and Lulture9 / Kess 8issured Terrain?, /nnual1eview o 4ociology v!# p#7(-:# H%C
Lerny, 0. . and 3vans, &. *!""$, >lobalisation and 0ublic 0olicy 2nder
+ew Kabour? 0olicy 4tudies, Gol. !6, +o (, !""$
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and A. Bozkurt *3d. Turk 5amu Aonetimi, /nkara9 azi 5atabevi
6In news-report by V
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&etinleri, zel 4ayU *!, +o.7", 5asUm !""#, s. 6-%
Duru, B. *!""#, >5amu AWnetimi 1eormunda Xevresel Deerler9 rmanlar
ve 5UyUlar? 4ermaye Kehinde 1eorm? /.2. 4B8 3T/ Tartisma
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Bahar !""#, s. %#-((7.
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zel 4ayU *!, +o.6%, 5asUm !""#, s. (-#$
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*!, +o.7", 5asim !""#, s. (-$
Icduygu, /. and 5aygusuz, . *!""$, >The 0olitics o Litizenship by
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*!, +o.6%, 5asim !""#, s. $C-7C
5arasu, 5. *!""#, >5amu rgutlenmesi Boyutuyla 5amu Aonetimi Temel
5anunu Tasarisi? /.2. 4B8 3T/ Tartisma &etinleri, zel 4ayi *!,
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%ntervie#s and &!servations
Interviews with &embers o Lounty Louncil and &unicipality Louncil, and