The Political Economy of Turkey

The Political Economy of Turkey

Introduction: Globalisation, capitalist crises and Turkey

The last few decades have witnessed a vast array of the most serious crises in Turkey since the establishment of the Republic in 1923. Social unrest, political and ethnic violence, paralysis of the state bureaucracy and other institutions, foreign exchange problems, increasing foreign debt, a decreasing rate of economic growth, astronomical rates of inflation, an alarming trade and balance of payments deficit, uneven urbanisation, increasing unemployment and inefficient social services have all been part of everyday life in the recent history of Turkey.

This book is intended to contribute to both current discussions amongst the social scientists on the political and socio-economic problems faced by Turkey in recent decades and the process of Turkey’s integration into the global economy. In so doing it concentrates on various aspects of the current political and socioeconomic crisis facing Turkey. The main contention is that current problems in Turkey are the result of the specific way in which political, economic and social forces are shaped by both the internal and external dynamics at work. Turkey’s further integration into the world economy as a result of increasing globalisation has meant that upheavals in the world economy are deeply felt in Turkish society. With the turmoil in the world economy in the last few decades generating the collapse of commodity prices for agricultural products, minerals, oil and gas, the crisis in Turkey, along with a number of less economically developed countries, has intensified. This book aims to analyse the internal and external dynamics of the socio-economic crisis in Turkey...

Contents

Acknowledgements / x

Introduction: Globalisation, capitalist crises and Turkey / 1
Interpretations of globalisation / 2
Globalisation, homogenisation and global inequalities / 4
Periodic crises and capitalism / 5
Globalisation and TNCs / 8
Globalisation, internationalisation of capital and the nation state / 9
The 1980s and debt peonage / 11
Speculative capital movements / 13
Flow of equity investment to emerging markets / 15
The US’s role in the current financial crises / 17
Globalisation again / 21

1 The state / 25
Introduction / 25
State intervention in Turkey / 26
Economic policies in the 1950s / 31
The planned period 1960–80 / 34
Development since 1980 / 43
How successful were the SAPs in the 1980s? / 48
Liberalisation of foreign trade / 51
Repressive anti-trade union policies / 52

2 Democracy, development and good governance / 57
Good governance, democracy and development / 58
Democracy and development / 66
The predominance of the state / 78
The Turkish State / 83
Democracy in Turkey / 96
Liberalisation and democratisation since 1980 / 100

3 Cyclical crises since 1980 / 105
Rapid loss of economic autonomy / 110
Financial liberalisation and the 1994 crisis / 114
Disinflation programmes and the 2000–01 crisis / 119
Repercussions of the 2001 crisis / 123
The transition to a stronger Turkish economy programme of 2001 / 125
Conclusion / 134

4 Agrarian crisis / 138
Internationalisation of Third World agriculture / 140
The end of developmentalism / 142
General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) / 147
The promotion of small-scale household production and the modernisation of Turkish agriculture / 153
Economic hardships and neo-liberalism / 155
Standby agreements since 1999 and Turkish agriculture / 159
The sagas of sugar and tobacco / 165
Sugar / 165
Tobacco / 166
Direct income support / 168
Liberalisation and food security / 171
History repeats itself: Mexico and Turkey / 174

5 Political Islam in Turkey / 179
Political Islam as a reaction to modernisation / 180
Kemalism, Islam and identity politics / 183
Turkish identity and Islam / 184
The moderation of political Islam / 196
Political Islam, class politics and business interests / 198
The National Outlook Movement (NOM) / 200
The rise and fall of the Welfare Party / 202
Globalisation and the rise of political Islam in Turkey / 208
Conclusion / 217

6 The Kurdish question / 222
Ethnicity and identity / 227
The emergence of conflicting Turkish and Kurdish ethnies / 230
Treaties of Sèvres and Lausanne / 234
The emergence of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey / 234
Kurdish nationalist discourse in Turkey / 239
Uncompromising nationalism / 241
Conclusion: the European Union and the Kurdish question / 243

7 Conclusion / 245

Notes / 261
Bibliography / 266
Index / 287

The Political Economy of Turkey
Zülküf Aydın

First published 2005 by Pluto Press
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and 839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106

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© Zülküf Aydın 2005

The right of Zülküf Aydın to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7453 1827 4 hardback
ISBN 0 7453 1826 6 paperback

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