IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v24y2006i1p117-138.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Critical Analysis of Decentralisation and Local Economic Development: The Turkish Case

Author

Listed:
  • Gül Berna Özcan

    (School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX, England)

Abstract

Simple neoliberal approaches ignore the importance and power that the state has in making decentralization effective. This is shown through a critical analysis of local economic development in which evidence, from three projects in a second-rank Turkish industrial centre, Kayseri, was used. Turkey's recent moves from highly centralized systems of governance to neoliberal policies of economic devolution reveal a poor understanding of how the roles of state and its institutions operate. The findings illustrate that the control of narrow political interests distorts local priorities and projects, and many civil society groups remain ineffective in the face of local initiatives. The author concludes that decentralization without competent state administration is likely to aggravate social fracturing and to foster inequalities while, at the same time, failing to ameliorate public service and economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Gül Berna Özcan, 2006. "A Critical Analysis of Decentralisation and Local Economic Development: The Turkish Case," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 24(1), pages 117-138, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:24:y:2006:i:1:p:117-138
    DOI: 10.1068/c0439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c0439
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/c0439?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. C. Emre Alper & Ziya Onis, 2003. "Financial Globalization, the Democratic Deficit, and Recurrent Crises in Emerging Markets : The Turkish Experience in the Aftermath of Capital Account Liberalization," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 5-26, May.
    2. David Lewis, 2002. "Civil Society in African Contexts: Reflections on the Usefulness of a Concept," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 33(4), pages 569-586, September.
    3. Dennis A. Rondinelli & John R. Nellis, 1986. "Assessing Decentralization Policies in Developing Countries: The Case for Cautious Optimism1," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 4(1), pages 3-23, March.
    4. Kuran, Timur, 2003. "The Islamic Commercial Crisis: Institutional Roots of Economic Underdevelopment in the Middle East," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(2), pages 414-446, June.
    5. Foley, Michael W. & Edwards, Bob, 1999. "Is It Time to Disinvest in Social Capital?," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 141-173, May.
    6. Shah, Anwar, 1998. "Balance, accountability, and responsiveness : lessons about decentralization," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2021, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Muhammad Abdul Ghofur & Lucky Rachmawati, 2019. "The Impact Of Fiscal Decentralization On Income And Education Inequality Through Economic Growth In East Java," Oradea Journal of Business and Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 4(Special), pages 90-98, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ozcan, Gul Berna & Cokgezen, Murat, 2003. "Limits to Alternative Forms of Capitalization: The Case of Anatolian Holding Companies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 2061-2084, December.
    2. Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & McNab, Robert M., 2003. "Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1597-1616, September.
    3. Astghik Mavisakalyan, 2013. "Development Priorities in an Emerging Decentralized Economy: The Case of Armenia’s Local Development Programs," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 20(1), pages 105-118, April.
    4. Brusa, Mauro, 1997. "Fortalecimiento de la capacidad gerencial para el ejercicio del poder fiscal del Estado," Sede de la CEPAL en Santiago (Estudios e Investigaciones) 34331, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    5. Mervyn K. Lewis, 2014. "Principles of Islamic corporate governance," Chapters, in: M. Kabir Hassan & Mervyn K. Lewis (ed.), Handbook on Islam and Economic Life, chapter 13, pages iii-iii, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Sirven, Nicolas, 2006. "Endogenous social capital and self-rated health: Cross-sectional data from rural areas of Madagascar," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1489-1502, September.
    7. Gila Menahem & Gideon Doron & David Itzhak Haim, 2011. "Bonding and Bridging Associational Social Capital and the Financial Performance of Local Authorities in Israel," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(5), pages 659-681, June.
    8. Domínguez-Gómez, J. Andrés & González-Gómez, Teresa, 2017. "Analysing stakeholders’ perceptions of golf-course-based tourism: A proposal for developing sustainable tourism projects," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 135-143.
    9. Sabatini, Fabio, 2006. "The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: A Critical Perspective," Knowledge, Technology, Human Capital Working Papers 12097, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    10. Mariano Roberto S & Gultekin Bulent N & Ozmucur Suleyman & Shabbir Tayyeb & Alper C. Emre, 2004. "Prediction of Currency Crises: Case of Turkey," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-21, August.
    11. Hans-Bernd Schaefer & Rok Spruk, 2024. "Islamic Law, Western European Law and the Roots of Middle East's Long Divergence: a Comparative Empirical Investigation (800-1600)," Papers 2401.14435, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    12. Lerda, Juan Carlos, 1997. "Substitución entre políticas presupuestarias y cuasi-fiscal: asignatura pendiente de la reforma del Estado," Sede de la CEPAL en Santiago (Estudios e Investigaciones) 34336, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    13. Bruno De Borger & Vincenzo Verardi, 2009. "Estimating the direct costs of social conflicts: Road blockings in Bolivia," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(7), pages 932-946.
    14. Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 2008. "Religion, politics, and development: Lessons from the lands of Islam," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 329-351, November.
    15. Berument, Hakan, 2007. "Measuring monetary policy for a small open economy: Turkey," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 411-430, June.
    16. Fabio Sabatini, 2005. "Social capital as social networks. A new framework for measurement," Working Papers in Public Economics 83, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    17. Michele Hoyman & Jamie McCall & Laurie Paarlberg & John Brennan, 2016. "Considering the Role of Social Capital for Economic Development Outcomes in U.S. Counties," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 30(4), pages 342-357, November.
    18. Olivier De Jonghe & Mustafa Disli & Koen Schoors, 2012. "Corporate Governance, Opaque Bank Activities, and Risk/Return Efficiency: Pre- and Post-Crisis Evidence from Turkey," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 41(1), pages 51-80, April.
    19. Gregg, Amanda & Nafziger, Steven, 2020. "Financing nascent industry: Leverage, politics, and performance in Imperial Russia," BOFIT Discussion Papers 7/2020, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    20. Adrian E Tschoegl, 2004. "Financial Integration, Dis‐integration and Emerging Re‐integration in the Eastern Mediterranean, c.1850 to the Present," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(5), pages 245-285, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:24:y:2006:i:1:p:117-138. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.