Network policy formation between idealist and strategic models: a political economy perspective from Turkey

Two models of telecom reform, the Idealist and the Strategic, can be applied to the network policy formation process. The Idealist model, which is manifested in the rhetoric of the emerging global governance regime of telecommunication networks, amounts to a policy of exclusion in developing countries not only in the sense of teledensity, but also regarding the network policy formation process as well. The scope of the policy sphere has been reduced to purportedly competitive markets ignoring socio-economic development, the economy as a whole, local production and technology capabilities, research and development, innovation systems and the potential for using markets as instruments. Disconnecting long-range planning of the government and "independent regulator's" policies can be added to the list of excluded possibilities. Based on Turkey's experience, the strategic model is more appropriate both for understanding the formation of network policies and for designing participatory policy formation mechanisms. As the number of agents involved in the policy formation process diversifies and increases in the true sense, outcomes more closely resemble a Strategic approach. Thus, in trying to understand network policy formation, a new dimension should be added to the Strategic/Idealist dichotomy: top-down or participatory.