Decentralization in Turkey
Abstract
Since 2004, the government of Turkey has undertaken a number of “decentralisation” reforms.
A number of laws have been passed that give increased autonomy and resources to regional and
local authorities and aim to reorganise the division of tasks and the relationships between these
authorities and the central government. These reforms represent substantial change, since there
had previously been practically no intermediate level between the central government and the
citizens, and the decision-making centres in Ankara constituted serious bottlenecks that were
regularly circumvented.
The reform process raises a number of questions. What rationales led to the implementation of
these reforms? Did the reforms result from the opening of negotiations on Turkey’s accession to
the European Union, in 2005, or were domestic political processes also a factor? What real
changes did these reforms introduce? What impact have they had on adjustments in the levels of
government and the connections among them, and, more generally, on the Turkish political
scene?
Domains
Political science
Origin : Publisher files allowed on an open archive