Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T07:03:30.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

State, institutions and reform in Turkey after July 15

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2018

Bülent Aras Open the ORCID record for Bülent Aras [Opens in a new window]  and
Emirhan Yorulmazlar
Bülent Aras
Affiliation:
İstanbul Policy Center, Sabancı University, Minerva Han No. 2, Karaköy, İstanbul, Turkey 34420; [email protected].
Emirhan Yorulmazlar
Affiliation:
Foreign Policy Institute, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, 1619 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., Rome Building, Suite 734, Washington, DC, USA 20036; [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The failed coup of July 15 has shocked the current state apparatus in Turkey. This shock has culminated in the public demand for administrative reform, which would make previous public designs and policy failures a matter of the past. The state crisis has transpired in the middle of a political transition process whereby the ruling party envisioned systemic change in the political system from the parliamentary to a presidential system. The constitutional amendments also imply changes in the administrative order, with further political hold on bureaucratic cadres. The coup attempt and the massive purges in its aftermath brought the state to its breaking point. In light of such deficits and challenges, this paper discusses the ways, means, and prospects for capacity development and institution-building to overcome the state crisis in Turkey. The reform and restructuring process entails cooperation and a level of understanding between the government, opposition, and bureaucracy. Polarization and disenfranchisement are recipes for further fragmentation in Turkish politics. A cooperative model based on a working relationship between the government, opposition, and bureaucracy would facilitate a return to normalcy.

Keywords

Turkeystate crisisadministrative reformpolitical transitionJuly 15 coup attemptcapacity developmentinstitution buildinggovernment-bureaucracy relationship
Type
Special Dossier: Researching human smuggling in the Mediterranean
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 59 , November 2018 , pp. 135 - 157
Copyright
© New Perspectives on Turkey and Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoğlu, Daron and Robinson, James A.. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. New York: Crown Publishers, 2012.Google Scholar
Akdoğan, Yalçın. AK Parti ve Muhafazakar Demokrasi. İstanbul: Alfa, 2004.Google Scholar
Andersen, David, Moller, Jorgen, Rorbaek, Lasse Lykke, and Skaaning, Svend-Erik. “State Capacity and Political Regime Stability.” Democratization 21, no. 7 (August 2014): 1305–1325.Google Scholar
Anderson, Becky and Masters, James. “Erdogan Insists Turkey Reforms Don’t Make Him a Dictator.” CNN, April 18, 2017. https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/europe/erdogan-turkey-interview/index.html.Google Scholar
Çağaptay, Soner. The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey. London and New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2017.Google Scholar
Cortell, Andrew P. and Peterson, Susan. “Limiting the Unintended Consequences of Institutional Change.” Comparative Political Studies 34, no. 7 (September 2001): 768–799.Google Scholar
Dinçer, Ömer. Türkiye’de Değişim Yapmak Neden Bu Kadar Zor? İstanbul: Alfa, 2015.Google Scholar
“Erdoğan’dan Eğitim ve Kültür Özeleştirisi.” Anadolu Ajansı, February 9, 2017.Google Scholar
“Erdoğan’s Declaration of System Change Outrages Turkey’s Opposition.” Hürriyet Daily News, August 16, 2015. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Erdoğans-declaration-of-system-change-outrages-turkeys-opposition-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=87036&NewsCatID=338.Google Scholar
Etzioni-Halevy, Eva. Bureaucracy and Democracy: A Political Dilemma. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985.Google Scholar
Findley, Carter V. Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire: The Sublime Porte, 1789–1922. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980.Google Scholar
Hanson, Jonathan K. “Democracy and State Capacity: Complements or Substitutes?” Studies in Comparative International Development 50, no. 3 (2015): 304–330.Google Scholar
Heper, Metin. The State Tradition in Turkey. Walkington, England: The Eothen Press, 1985.Google Scholar
Heper, Metin. “The Strong State as a Problem for the Consolidation of Democracy.” Comparative Political Studies 25, no. 4 (1992): 169–194.Google Scholar
Heper, Metin and Keyman, E. Fuat. “Double-Faced State: Political Patronage and the Consolidation of Democracy in Turkey.” Middle Eastern Studies 34, no. 4 (1998): 259–277.Google Scholar
İnalcık, Halil. Osmanlı’da Devlet, Hukuk ve Adalet. İstanbul: Eren Yayınları, 2000.Google Scholar
Karaer, Tacettin. “12 Eylül ve Türk Kamu Yönetiminin Yeniden Düzenlenmesi.” Amme İdaresi Dergisi 20, no. 3 (September 1987): 29–54.Google Scholar
“Kılıçdaroğlu: Tek Adam Değil, Parlamenter Sistem Istiyoruz.” CNNTURK, July 9, 2017. https://www.cnnturk.com/video/turkiye/kilicdaroglu-tek-adam-degil-parlamenter-sistem-istiyoruz.Google Scholar
Lindvall, Johannes and Teorell, Jan. “State Capacity as Power: A Conceptual Framework.” STANCE (State-Making and the Origins of Global Power in the Long Nineteenth Century and Beyond) Working Paper Series, Vol. 2016, No. 1, May 2016. http://portal.research.lu.se/portal/en/publications/state-capacity-as-power-a-conceptual-framework(ca52e85b-f17e-401d-9414-c5f52ec860e9).html.Google Scholar
Mangla, Akshay. Bureaucratic Norms and State Capacity: Implementing Primary Education in India’s Himalayan Region. Boston: Harvard Business School, 2014.Google Scholar
Mann, Michael. “The Autonomous Power of the State: Its Origins, Mechanisms and Results.” European Journal of Sociology 25, no. 2 (1984): 185–213.Google Scholar
Migdalovitz, Carol. Turkey’s 2007 Elections: Crisis of Identity and Power. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2007.Google Scholar
“Milli Eğitim Bakanı Ziya Selçuk’un İlk İcraatı: ALO 147 Şikayet Hattı Kapatılacak.” Cumhuriyet, July 13, 2018. http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/egitim/1025408/Milli_Egitim_Bakani_Ziya_Selcuk_un_ilk_icraati__ALO_147_Sikayet_Hatti_kapatilacak.html.Google Scholar
Moon, B.E. and Dixon, W.J.. “Politics, the State, and Basic Human Needs: A Cross-National Study.” American Journal of Political Science 29, no. 4 (November 1985): 661–694.Google Scholar
Public Sector Reform: What Works and Why? An IEG Evaluation of World Bank Support. Washington, DC: World Bank Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), 2008. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/6484/448180PUB0Box310only109780821375891.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.Google Scholar
Selçuk, Orçun. “Strong Presidents and Weak Institutions: Populism in Turkey, Venezuela and Ecuador.” Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 16, no. 4 (2016): 571–589.Google Scholar
Slater, Dan and Fenner, Sofia. “State Power and Staying Power: Infrastructural Mechanisms and Authoritarian Durability.” Journal of International Affairs 65, no. 1 (December 2011): 15–29.Google Scholar
Sözen, Süleyman. “New Public Administration in Turkey.” In Turkey’s Democratization Process. Edited by Carmen Rodriguez, Antonio Ávalos, Hakan Yılmaz and Ana I. Planet. Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge, 2013. 223–240.Google Scholar
Tendler, Judith. Good Government in the Tropics. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Turan, Osman. “The Ideal of World Domination among the Medieval Turks.” Studia Islamica 4 (1955): 77–90.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Q. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. New York: Basic Books, 1989.Google Scholar
Yinanç, Barçın. “Gülenists ‘Abused’ Efforts to Enhance Democracy: Ruling AKP Official.” Hürriyet Daily News, July 17, 2017. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gulenists-abused-efforts-to-enhance-democracy-ruling-akp-official-115570.Google Scholar
Yinanç, Barçın. “Ample Evidence to Prove that Gülenists Were behind Turkey’s Coup Attempt: Journalist Sedat Ergin.” Hürriyet Daily News, August 28, 2017. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ample-evidence-to-prove-that-gulenists-were-behind-turkeys-coup-attempt-journalist-sedat-ergin-117241.Google Scholar