The Political Economy of Economic and Social Policy in Contemporary Turkey: An Introduction to the Special Issue

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Acknowledgements

Earlier versions of the articles in this special issue were presented, among others, at a two-day interdisciplinary workshop on ‘The Political Economy of Contemporary Turkey’, organized by the Turkish International Political Economy Society—now the Turkish Political Economy Society (TPES)—and hosted by the Center for Research on Globalization, Peace, and Democratic Governance (GLODEM) at Koç University in July 2015. We are grateful to Ziya Öniş and Caner Bakır for supporting the workshop and to all workshop participants for their important contributions.

Notes

1. For other works that periodize the post-2001 or the AKP era, see R. Gürkaynak and S. S. Böke, ‘AKP döneminde Türkiye Ekonomisi’[The Turkish economy in the AKP era], Birikim, 296, 2013, pp. 64–69; Z. Öniş, ‘Monopolising the centre: the AKP and the uncertain path of Turkish democracy’, The International Spectator, 50(2), 2015, pp. 22–41; D. Acemoğlu and M. Üçer, ‘The ups and downs of Turkish growth, 2002–2015: political dynamics, the European Union and the institutional slide’, in The Search of Europe: Contrasting Approaches, BBVA, 2016, pp. 357–385.

2. Setting the turning point within the AKP era in 2009 is somewhat arbitrary, given the gradual nature of political change. In fact, the 2007–2011 period can also be considered as a transition period between the AKP’s ‘golden age’ and the current period of democratic reversal. 2009 is not only the middle of this transition period, but also marks the end of high IMF and EU influence on Turkey.

3. E. Yeldan, ‘Turkey and the long decade with the IMF’, Bretton Woods Update, 6, 2008, p. 3. See also Y. Akyüz and K. Boratav, ‘The making of the Turkish financial crisis’, World Development, 31(9), 2003, pp. 1549–1566.

4. Z. Öniş and F. Şenses, ‘Global dynamics, domestic coalitions and a reactive state: major policy shifts in post-war Turkish economic development’, METU Studies in Development, 34(2), 2007, pp. 251–286.

5. ‘FP'den, ‘15 günde 15 yasa’ya destek’ [Support from the FP for ‘15 laws in 15 days’], Hürriyet, 29 March 2001; ‘Sözlerinden döndüler’ [They went back on their words], Hürriyet, 4 April 2001.

6. K. Gemici, ‘Moral economy redux: social protests in Turkey after the 2001 economic crisis’, Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 18(2), 2013, pp. 143–160.

7. C. Bakır, ‘Policy entrepreneurship and institutional change: multi-level governance of central banking reform’, Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions, 22(4), 2009, pp. 571–598.

8. C. Bakır and Z. Öniş, ‘The regulatory state and the Turkish banking reforms in the age of post-Washington Consensus’, Development and Change, 41(1), 2010, pp. 77–106.

9. Ü. Zenginobuz, ‘On regulatory agencies in Turkey and their independence’, Turkish Studies, 9(3), 2008, pp. 475–505.

10. A. Buğra and O. Savaşkan, New Capitalism in Turkey: The Relationship between Politics, Religion and Business, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2014; E. Ç. Gürakar, Politics of Favoritism in Public Procurement in Turkey: Reconfigurations of Dependency Networks in the AKP Era, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndsmills, Basingstoke, 2016.

11. M. Eder, ‘Retreating state? Political economy of welfare regime change in Turkey’, Middle East Law and Governance, 2(2), 2010, pp. 152–184.

12. H. İslamoğlu, ‘Yeni Düzenlemeler ve Ekonomi Politik: IMF Kaynaklı Kurumsal Reformlar ve Tütün Yasası’ [New Regulations and Political Economy: IMF-based Institutional Reforms and the Tobacco Law], Birikim, 158, 2002, pp. 20–27; A. B. Güven, ‘Reforming sticky institutions: persistence and change in Turkish agriculture’, Studies in Comparative International Development, 44(2), 2009, pp. 162–187.

13. World Bank, ‘Implementation completion and results report on a loan in the amount of US$500 million to the Republic of Turkey for a social risk mitigation project’, 2008, p. 2.

14. S. E. Aytaç, ‘Distributive politics in a multiparty system the conditional cash transfer program in Turkey’, Comparative Political Studies, 47(9), 2014, pp. 1211–1237.

15. Öniş, ‘Monopolising the centre’, op. cit.; C. Tuğal, The Fall of the Turkish Model: How the Arab Uprisings Brought Down Islamic Liberalism, Verso Books, London, 2016.

16. K. Ağartan, ‘Beyond politics of privatization: a reinterpretation of Turkish exceptionalism’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 19(2), 2017, pp. 136–152.

17. I. Atiyas, ‘Economic institutions and institutional change in Turkey during the neoliberal era’, New Perspectives on Turkey, 47, 2012, pp. 57–81.

18. Ş. Pamuk, ‘Editor’s introduction: Turkey’s experience with neoliberal policies and globalization since 1980’, New Perspectives on Turkey, 47, pp. 5–10. For an account that emphasizes the fragility of Turkey’s economic growth, see, for example, T. Subaşat, ‘The political economy of Turkey’s economic miracle’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 16(2), 2014, pp. 137–160.

19. T. Ağartan, ‘Marketization and universalism: crafting the right balance in the Turkish healthcare system’, Current Sociology, 60(4), pp. 456–471; V. Yılmaz, ‘Changing origins of inequalities in access to health care services in Turkey: from occupational status to income’, New Perspectives on Turkey, 48, 2013, pp. 55–77.

20. E. Yörük, ‘Welfare provision as political containment: the politics of social assistance and the Kurdish conflict in Turkey’, Politics and Society, 40(4), 2012, pp. 517–547; Aytaç, op. cit.

21. T. Dorlach, ‘The prospects of egalitarian capitalism in the Global South: Turkish social neoliberalism in comparative perspective’, Economy and Society, 44(4), 2015, pp. 519–544.

22. A. Çelik, ‘Turkey’s new labour regime under the Justice and Development Party in the first decade of the twenty-first century: authoritarian flexibilization’, Middle Eastern Studies, 51(4), 2015, pp. 618–635.

23. See, for example, M. Somer, ‘Understanding Turkey’s democratic breakdown: old vs. new and indigenous vs. global authoritarianism’, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 16(4), 2016, pp. 481–503.

24. Z. Öniş and M. Kutlay, ‘Global Shifts and the Limits of the EU’s Transformative Power in the European Periphery: Comparative Perspectives from Hungary and Turkey’, Government and Opposition, 2017. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/government-and-opposition/article/global-shifts-and-the-limits-of-the-eus-transformative-power-in-the-european-periphery-comparative-perspectives-from-hungary-and-turkey/32A1A08B1D23C4B1AE2B259113C96E64

25. Atiyas, op. cit., p. 68.

26. I. Özel, ‘The politics of de-delegation: regulatory (in)dependence in Turkey’, Regulation & Governance, 6(1), 2012, pp. 119–129.

27. T. Dorlach, ‘The AKP between populism and neoliberalism: lessons from pharmaceutical policy’, New Perspectives on Turkey, 55, 2016, pp. 55–83.

28. C. Letsch, ‘Istanbul hospitals refuse abortions as government’s attitude hardens’, The Guardian, 4 February 2015.

29. Buğra and Savaşkan, op. cit.

30. Özel, op. cit.

31. Dorlach, ‘The AKP between populism and neoliberalism’, op. cit.; M. Marschall, A. Aydogan and A. Bulut, ‘Does housing create votes? Explaining the electoral success of the AKP in Turkey’, Electoral Studies, 42, 2016, pp. 201–212.

32. Buğra and Savaşkan, op. cit. Despite the growing influence of this conservative business community, sometimes referred to as the ‘Anatolian bourgeoisie’, one should not underestimate that the more secular business community as well as foreign corporations have also been supporting large parts of the AKP’s economic and social policy agenda, especially in the 2002–2009 period. See Z. Öniş, ‘The political economy of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party’, in H. Yavuz (ed.) The Emergence of a New Turkey: Islam, Democracy and the AK Party, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 2006, pp. 207–234.

33. A. B. Güven, ‘Rethinking development space in emerging countries: Turkey’s conservative countermovement’, Development and Change, 47(5), 2016, pp. 995–1024.

34. Öniş and Kutlay, op. cit.