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ABSTRACT
Since the Eastern enlargement in 2004, the EU has paid exceptional attention to strengthening civil society organizations (CSOs) in new member and candidate states, including Turkey. While the EU’s contribution to Turkish CSO empowerment is ambivalent in general, women’s organizations have benefitted from the opportunities connected to the accession process. However, since 2007, the AKP government has been hesitating to further the EU-membership project. Distancing at the state level has also resulted in the weakening impact of the EU on civil society. We argue that de-Europeanization can be observed in securing financial and technical assistance, weakening normative power of the EU, and changing perceptions towards internationalization and Europeanization. Moreover, distancing from international donors has resulted in changing nature of the relationship between CSOs and local donors, both state and private.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Doyle, “Government co-option”; Kadıoğlu, “The paradox”; Ketola, Europeanization; and Toprak, Civil Society.”
2 Buğra and Savaşkan, New Capitalism; İçduygu, “Interacting actors”; Ketola, Europeanization; and Zihnioğlu, EU-Turkey Relations.
3 Kadıoğlu, “The paradox,” and Ketola, “NGOs and Civil Society.”
4 Ketola, “NGOs and Civil Society.”
5 Dodd, “Development”; Doyle, “Government co-option”; and Toprak, “Civil Society.”
6 Toprak, “Civil Society”, 90.
7 Aldıkaçtı-Marshall, Shaping Gender Policy; Altan-Olcay and İçduygu, “Mapping civil society”; Arat, “Gender and citizenship”; Buğra and Savaşkan, New Capitalism; Ketola, “NGOs and Civil Society”; and Keyman and İçduygu, “Globalization.”
8 Arat, Rethinking Islam; Davis and Lutz, “Life in theory”; Diner and Toktaş, “Waves of feminism; and Tekeli”, “Women.”
9 Sümer and Eslen-Ziya, “New waves for old rights,” 6.
10 Heper, “The state”; Keyman and İçduygu, “Globalization”; Kubicek, “Civil society”; and Toprak, “Civil Society.”
11 Bianchi, Interest Groups, and Heper, “The state.”
12 Toprak, “Civil society,” 88.
13 Keyman and İçduygu, “Globalization,” and Ergun, “Civil society.”
14 Ergun, “Civil society,” and Kuzmanovic, Refractions.
15 Youngs and Küçükkeleş, “New directions.”
16 Kubicek, “Political Conditionality”; Ketola, Europeanization; Rumelili and Boşnak, “Taking Stock”; and Zihnioğlu, “European Union funds.”
17 Zihnioğlu, “European Union funds.”
18 Ketola, Europeanization; Kubicek, “Political Conditionality”; and Zihnioğlu, “European Union funds.”
19 Rumelili and Boşnak, “Taking Stock.”
20 Ergun, “Civil society.”
21 Boşnak, “Europeanisation and de-Europeanisation”; Ergun, “Civil society”; Ketola, “A gap”; Ketola, Europeanization; and Kuzmanovic, Refractions.
22 İçduygu, “Interacting actors,” and Zihnioğlu, “The ‘civil society policy’.”
23 Çaylak, “Autocratic or democratic?”; Ketola, Europeanization; Keyman and İçduygu, “Globalization”; Keysan and Özdemir, “Civil society”; and Zihnioğlu, “The ‘civil society policy’.”
24 Aldıkaçtı-Marshall, Shaping Gender Policy, and Keyman and İçduygu, “Globalization.”
25 European Council, Regular Report on Turkey’s Progress Towards Accession, March 8, 2001, 16.
26 Turkey’s National Programmes for the Adoption of the Acquis. March 19, 2001.
27 Kuzmanovic, Refractions.
28 Kuzmanovic, Refractions, and Ketola, Europeanization.
29 Ergun, “Civil society,” 510.
30 Zihnioğlu, “The ‘civil society policy’.”
31 Ketola, Europeanization.
32 Zihnioğlu, “The ‘civil society policy’.”
33 Patton, “AKP Reform Fatigue,” and Zihnioğlu, “The ‘civil society policy’.”
34 Aybars et al., “Europeanization without substance?”; Kubicek, “Democratization and relations with the EU”; Patton, “AKP Reform Fatigue”; and Yılmaz, “From Europeanization to De-Europeanization.”
35 Szymański, “De-Europeanization and De-Democratization.”
36 Copeland, “Europeanization and de-Europeanization.”
37 Aydın-Düzgit and Kaliber, “Encounters with Europe.”
38 Available at: https://siviltoplumdiyalogu.org
39 Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey.
40 Boşnak, “Europeanisation and de-Europeanisation,” and Müehlenhoff, “Depoliticizing the politicized?.”
41 Boşnak, “Europeanisation and de-Europeanisation”; Ketola, Europeanization; and Zihnioğlu, “The ‘civil society policy’.”
42 CIFE, Sivil Toplumun AB Katılım Sürecindeki Rolü.
45 Available at: https://www.ab.gov.tr/5_en.html.
46 Aydın-Düzgit and Kaliber, “Encounters with Europe,” 5
47 Hemerijck, “Fault lines.”
48 Hemerijck, “Fault lines,” Stratigaki, “The cooptation of gender concepts.”
49 Hemerijck, “Fault lines.”
50 Ergun, “Civil society,” 516.
51 In 1998, Leyla Şahin, a medical school student, was suspended from university for wearing an Islamic headscarf. Şahin’s case received great support from some women’s organizations, primarily those identify themselves as Islamist women’s organizations.
52 On the 15th of July 2016, Turkey experienced a failed military coup attempt. As a response, the government declared a state of emergency, and under the provisions (article 11) of the State of Emergency Act the government closed down 94 CSOs and suspended the service and funding of 370 others (Kazanoğlu, The politics of Europeanisation).
53 Schimmelfenning and Sedelmeier, The Europeanization.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ayça Ergun
Ayça Ergun is Professor of Sociology at Middle East Technical University. Her research interests include state-society relations, democratization, nation and state building, civil society, and internationalization in the South Caucasus and Turkey. Her work has appeared in Europe-Asia Studies, Nationalities Papers, Work, Employment and Society, Journal of European Integration, Journal of International Relations, Journal of Church and State, Turkish Studies, Journal of Developing Societies, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, Field Methods, and Electoral Studies.
Nazlı Kazanoğlu
Nazlı Kazanoğlu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Nişantaşı University. In 2018, she obtained her PhD from Ulster University with her thesis entitled ‘The Politics of Europeanisation Patterns of Work and Family Life Reconciliation Policies: Germany and Turkey.’ In 2023, she was honored with the UNESCO Chair on Gender and Sustainable Development Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Kağıtçıbaşı Human Development Research Project Award. She is the author of The Politics of Europeanisation: Work and Family Life Reconciliation Policy (Routledge, 2021) and From A to Z: Women's Cooperatives (2024) Her main research areas include Europeanization theory, women's employment, women's cooperatives, sustainable development, civil society, social policy, and work-family life balance.